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Abstract

This position paper formalizes the concept of the Categorical Ceiling Tax (CCT), an interpretive limitation observed in intervention studies that employ quantitative scoring rubrics to classify proficiency levels. The CCT describes a form of structural resistance that occurs when a population mean approaches, but does not cross, a predefined categorical threshold, even when measurable quantitative gains are documented. Using pre–post score data from a one-group design involving the total population of N = 494 Grade 7 students, this paper illustrates how categorical reporting obscured a documented positive mean shift (Δx̅ = +0.20), while the population classification remained at the “Instructional” level. This paper argues that categorical transitions, when interpreted independently, may misrepresent population-level progress in large samples. It further proposes that changes in the deficiency floor—defined as the proportion of learners classified at the Frustration level—be reported as a complementary interpretive indicator alongside categorical outcomes. These observations provide applied insights into the interpretation of outcomes generated through technology-supported assessment and reporting systems commonly used in contemporary educational settings.

Author Biography

Mhel Cedric D. Bendo, College of Business Administration, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Cavite, Philippines

Mhel Cedric D. Bendo is a student researcher specializing in educational psychology, curriculum and instruction, educational measurement and evaluation, psychometrics, and educational technology. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. As of 2026, he holds an honorary appointment as an International Editorial Board Member for SIAR Publications, contributing to peer review, editorial guidance, and interdisciplinary journal development. He also serves as an invited peer reviewer for international peer-reviewed journals in online and distance learning, educational technology, educational evaluation, information literacy, interdisciplinary undergraduate research, and health and science education, including journals indexed in Web of Science (ESCI), Scopus (Q1–Q3, SCImago), ERIC, and DOAJ, supporting rigorous and ethically grounded interdisciplinary scholarship.

Child Trends was funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to conduct an implementation and impact evaluation of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice's (DJJ) Second Chance Act reentry reform efforts. Through a rigorous evaluation of DJJ's reentry efforts and the translation of study findings into recommendations for improving juvenile reentry efforts, this project aimed to enhance public safety and improve outcomes for young people reentering their communities. To achieve these goals, they completed three core objectives: 1) leverage DJJ's robust statewide administrative data system to conduct a quasi-experimental study to examine how the core components of DJJ's reentry reforms impact youth outcomes; 2) conduct an in-depth implementation evaluation to provide other states who are implementing federally funded reentry reforms with context for the study findings, as well as to identify challenges and solutions for implementing and sustaining the reforms; and 3) translate research findings for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers aiming to improve juvenile reentry.

The grant was transferred to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in October 2018.

The Valuating Law Enforcement Data in the 21st Century study was conducted in four phases. Phase I included a literature scan and expert interviews. Phase II was an exploratory effort at understanding the dimensions and characteristics of valuation efforts focused on policing data. Phase III focused on developing a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) framework for body-worn cameras (BWCs). Finally, Phase IV turned the BWC CBA tool into a web-based calculator for law enforcement agencies to assess the likely impact of BWCs on their agency.

This collection includes qualitative notes from focus group discussions at site visits conducted in Phase II and Phase III of the study. Personnel from 13 law enforcement agencies across 10 U.S. states participated in the focus groups. Efforts were made to diversify among municipal police and sheriffs, the variety of agency sizes and populations served, and geography. In general, site visits were designed to include a variety of personnel, including from executive staff, information technology, patrol, investigations, and crime analysis.

Organizations that fund research often seek input on which topics are important to study. Patients can take part in setting priorities for research to help make sure that future studies focus on the topics that matter most to them. Researchers can collect patients' views on which research topics are most important in different ways.

In this study, the research team compared three methods of research priority setting:

• Online crowd voting, where patients submit, discuss, and vote on ideas online
• Focus groups with nominal group technique, where patients come up with ideas on their own and then discuss those ideas in a group with a moderator
• Modified Delphi method, where patients give input through a series of mailed surveys

The research team looked at research topic rankings and experiences with each method among patients with low back pain.

Employment coaching involves trained staff working collaboratively with participants to help them set individualized goals directly or indirectly related to employment and providing motivation, support, and feedback as participants work toward those goals. Unlike most traditional case managers, coaches work in partnership with participants and do not tell the participants what goals they should pursue or what action steps to take in pursuing them. Recently, there has been growing interest among policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and others in using employment coaching to assist Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and other adults with low incomes.

To learn more about the potential of employment coaching, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) funded an experimental impact study of four employment coaching programs conducted as part of the Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Related Populations. The impact study evaluated the effectiveness of each program on study participants' self-regulation skills, employment, earnings, and other measures of personal and family well-being during the 21 months after participants enrolled in the study. Data and documentation for the longer term follow-up, 48 to 67 months after study enrollment, are forthcoming.

The four employment coaching programs included in the evaluation are:

• Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS), which serves TANF recipients and their family members in Iowa. Participation in FaDSS is voluntary and most coaching sessions occur in the participant's home.
• Goal4 It!TM, which provides employment coaching to TANF recipients in Jefferson County, Colorado in lieu of traditional case management. Receipt of TANF benefits is conditional on participation in either Goal4 It! or traditional case management.
• LIFT, which is a voluntary coaching program operated in four U.S. cities. Most coaching is conducted by unpaid student interns from Master of Social Work programs.
• MyGoals for Employment Success (MyGoals), which is a voluntary coaching program that served recipients of public housing assistance in Baltimore, Maryland, and Houston, Texas.

The impact study addressed the following primary research questions:

Do the coaching programs improve the outcomes of adults with low incomes?

Specifically:

• Do the coaching programs affect participants' intermediate outcomes related to self-regulation and other skills associated with labor market success?
• Do the coaching programs affect participants' employment and economic security outcomes?
• How do the impacts of the coaching programs change over time?
• Are the coaching programs more effective for some groups of participants than others?

Between February 2017 and November 2019, about 4,300 adults who were eligible for one of the four employment coaching programs and who consented to participate in the evaluation were randomly assigned either to (1) a program group that had access to employment coaching, or (2) a control group that did not have access to employment coaching but could receive other services available in the community. The effectiveness of each employment coaching program was assessed based on differences in average outcomes between program and control group members. Impacts were estimated during two follow-up periods: at 9 to 12 months after study enrollment (depending on the program; Moore et al. 2023) and at 21 months after study enrollment (Moore et al. forthcoming).

To estimate the impacts of employment coaching, the study used data from: (1) a baseline survey or form administered to study participants at the time of study enrollment, (2) follow-up surveys administered to study participants approximately 9 to 12 months after study enrollment, and again approximately 21 months after study enrollment, (3) administrative employment and Unemployment Insurance records from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), and (4) administrative records from state and local agencies on participation in public assistance programs.

The employment coaching restricted-use data collection includes nine files with data from these sources, excluding administrative and Unemployment Insurance records from the NDNH. Some of the files include data for a single program, while others combine data for more than one program. A user guide provides documentation for each file.

Long-term data will be added to this study homepage in the future.

This study analyzed client data from Love146, a non-profit organization that serves youth known or suspected of experiencing commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) victimization. All youth in the state of Connecticut referred to Love 146 receive a brief one-time Rapid Response intervention. A subset of these youth are then referred for Long-Term Services (LTS), intensive year-long clinical and support services. This study examines the trauma histories, service trajectories, and service outcomes for 455 youth referred to Love 146 between July 2016 and May 2021. The study compares characteristics of youth who received only Rapid Response services (n=271) to those who went on to enroll into LTS (n=185). Analyses also considered whether demographic, environmental, or adversity variables predicted successful or unsuccessful LTS service trajectories for youth. Researchers found that youth enrolled in the Love146 LTS program were significantly more likely than those who just received Rapid Response services to be younger and have confirmed (versus suspected) CSE victimization. With the exception of regular school attendance at the time of referral, adversity and risk profiles did not distinguish youth who successfully completed LTS from those who did not. Implications for improving services for this population of youth are discussed.

Policy makers and advocates have urged the development of interventions and programs that can provide children and youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) with needed services to reduce the likelihood of re-victimization and improve physical health, mental health, and education goals. Communities have responded by developing a variety of service models. However, there is little information about which youth can access CSE services or what service trajectories and outcomes look like for these youth. The non-profit organization Love146 has provided services to youth impacted by CSE through their Survivor Care program since 2014. The current study analyzes five years of de-identified client data from this program to understand the adversity histories of referred youth, and to identify which youth are most likely to access services over longer periods of time, with more successful outcomes.

Jail reentry step-down programs were pioneered in the 1990s in Hampden County, Massachusetts through a partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Correction (MADOC) and the Hampden County Sheriff's Office (HCSO). Step-down models enable people incarcerated in state prisons to transfer to a jail facility in their home community to serve the last portion of their sentence and gradually "step-down" to lower security classification levels prior to their release. During this time, the person is able to reconnect with local family and friends and receive community reentry services. In 2010, a Second Chance Act grant was awarded to HCSO, which expanded the reentry programming and program capacity and enabled HCSO to include people at higher security levels in the step-down program.

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine whether jails could serve as effective reentry transition facilities for adults incarcerated in state prisons who are preparing to return to their communities, using the HCSO step-down program as the model. Conducting a process, impact, and cost analysis, the researchers collected data from program reports, documents, administrative data, interviews with service providers and stakeholders, and focus groups with step-down program participants. Administrative data were releases to Hampden and Worcester County from MADOC custody between 2004-2017 (n=6,087 individuals, 7,577 releases) and line-item costs of operating reentry services.

This collection contains data from the impact analysis (DS1) and cost analysis (DS2) of HCSO's step-down program. Please note that qualitative data from the process analysis is not available.

In the current study, roughly 170 single source samples and 32 two-person mixture samples were tested using both the integrated Quantiplex®-high resolution melt (HRM) assay and Quantifiler™ Trio-HRM assay, then the entire HRM datasets were exported for prediction modeling using both linear discriminate analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms in R Studio software. For proof-of-concept, only 8 different genotypes, including a genotype of "mixture", were represented (for each locus) in testing. A portion of the samples tested were used to "train" the software and the remaining sample data was used as unknowns (or "validation") samples for prediction. When samples were tested in the Quantiplex®-HRM assay, an overall accuracy of 87.88 percent was exhibited, correctly classifying 87.5 percent of single source samples as such and 90 percent of mixture samples. Similarly, when samples were tested in the Quantifiler™ Trio-HRM assay an overall accuracy of 79.2 percent was exhibited, with 89.2 percent of single source samples accurately classifying and 43.8 percent of mixtures accurately classifying. Additionally, quantification values obtained from the integrated assays as well as the quality metrics such as the slope, R2, and y-intercept, were not significantly different than those obtained in the standard assays.

This initial Phase 1 formative evaluation included the development of a logic model to guide telehealth programming, an evaluability assessment of existing telehealth services, and a pilot test of initial implementation to capture the components needed for future fidelity assessment of these telehealth services as part of a multi-phase evaluation. The telemental health programming was focused on a hybrid approach of service delivery by El Futuro, a community-based organization in Durham, North Carolina. El Futuro's hybrid model of telemental health services combines methods of telehealth and in-person treatment with an array of service components including psychotherapy, psychiatric services, and case management for individuals who were victims of crime (VOCs) seeking mental health services.

Data associated with this project contain information about telehealth sites, client gender, psychiatric diagnoses, session types for the hybrid model, reported traumas for the overall sample used in the evaluability, and feasibility portion of the formative evaluation. The collection also includes outcome information for a subset of participants, such as client reported improvement and satisfaction.

In February 2016, Under the Rainbow (UTR), a pediatric trauma-based therapy program within Sinai Chicago's Behavioral Health department, joined with the Legal Council for Health Justice (LC), the scope of which includes assistance in accessing public benefits and special education, to form a medical-legal partnership (MLP). Integrating legal services with health care, the partnership allows patients seeking services at UTR to receive referrals for legal services through LC. The partnership is built on access to judicial and legal services as a social determinant of health that can lead to improved health outcomes, and thus the goal is to provide training and support to providers on legal and social barriers to health and provide free legal assistance to patients.

In this study, the research team conducted a formative evaluation of the existing MLP between the two organizations (located in Chicago, Illinois, United States). The specific aims of this evaluation were to:

1. Determine how a medical-legal partnership (MLP) can improve knowledge and understanding of domestic and community violence
2. Understand how the MLP can serve different populations by looking at program process and implementation in-depth
3. Prepare the MLP for impact evaluation to determine how the MLP can fill gaps in victimization research and legal intervention programs

Existing data from patient health risk assessments collected by UTR and legal services data collected by LC were obtained and analyzed. Clients had been served by UTR and referred to LC between July 2016 and May 2021. Interviews with staff at both organizations were conducted in 2019 and 2020. The research team also completed documentation review and created other artifacts (e.g. protocols, implementation guides, process maps) as a result of the evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive multi-site examination of veterans treatment court (VTC) operations through an implementation and intermediate outcome evaluation. The focus was primarily on VTC processes and participant populations, as well as basic participant outcomes. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from baseline and follow-up interviews, self-report survey data, semi-structured observations, and official records from eight VTC programs in three states.

Users should note that qualitative data are not available as part of this study at this time. It is not known when these data might be made available.

The first wave of the Art Museum Director Survey was launched in early 2020. It examined strategy and leadership issues from the perspective of the directors of art museums across the United States. Respondents were asked about their role as museum directors, their strategic priorities and leadership practices, budgeting and resources allocations, current and expected future staffing, their institutions' public trust and engagement with new and existing audiences, collections care and stewardship, their institutions' fiscal health and financial viability, and organizational and talent management.

Conducted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (the survey's closure was on March 30th 2020), the data from the first wave of the survey offer a glimpse into pre-pandemic perspectives and priorities of art museums.

Launched in April 2022, the second wave of the Art Museum Director Survey offers insights into the evolving strategies of museums over the past two years, covering governance, leadership, collections, public engagement, staffing, and budgets. It also evaluates shifts in directors' perspectives since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and explores responses to other national and international crises.

Demographic variables include respondents' institutions' admission fees, years in their current position, years in the museum sector, their highest degree earned, the position they held prior to their current position as a museum director, the staff size of the museum, and the type of museum (academic or municipal).

The Urban Institute and the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC) attempted to improve the surveillance system in two state correctional facilities: Stillwater (STW) and Moose Lake (ML). The goal of this study was to conduct a rigorous process and impact evaluation of the steps that STW and ML took to optimize their surveillance systems, which included repositioning existing cameras, installing new cameras, and making other infrastructural upgrades. In addition, ML integrated an audio analytic technology in their system that would alert on-unit security staff through a visual and audio alert when it detected sounds associated with anger, fear, or verbal aggression.

The evaluation used a mixed-methods research design. Qualitative data collection included stakeholder interviews and in-depth observations of the camera operations at ML and STW before, during, and after the upgrades. The research team interviewed wardens, supervisors and officers working in the intervention units, and numerous other individuals who oversaw operations, investigations, information technology, and camera installation and configuration in ML and STW.

Quantitative administrative data were collected from ML and comparison facilities and comparative interrupted time-series (CITS) analyses were employed to examine changes in two outcomes (total misconduct incidents and guilty dispositions) following the intervention. To support the CITS, another unit in ML was identified that did not upgrade its surveillance system but was similar to the intervention housing unit in terms of population, architecture, and misconduct levels (internal comparison unit), and used the synthetic control method to create another comparison unit derived from the three other medium-security prisons operated by MnDOC (external comparison unit).

The 24/7 Sobriety Program was created in South Dakota in 2005 to reduce repeat driving under the influence (DUI) offenses and jail populations, with the idea being to compel DUI defendants to abstain from alcohol and/or drug use for a period of time (Jackley and Long, 2017). The evidence-based program works as a continuous monitoring program where DUI defendants submit to scheduled and/or random testing for controlled substances. If a participant does not appear for testing or tests positive, they are subject to swift, certain, proportional, and consistent sanctions (e.g., immediate short-term incarceration). Compliant participants receive immediate positive feedback. As of March 2017, 24/7 Sobriety programs were authorized in 9 states: South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Utah, and Alaska.

In this study, the research team examined the implementation of the 24/7 Sobriety program in South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Jacksonville (Duval County), Florida, and Yavapai County, Arizona. The researchers sought to answer questions about the program's mechanics and effectiveness across several states, and to illuminate what aspects of program delivery are central to achieving outcomes that are relevant to criminal justice researchers and practitioners, such as recidivism, public safety, and alternatives to incarceration. This multi-site, mixed-methods evaluation consisted of secondary analysis of administrative program data and arrest records from North Dakota, case studies of pilot programs in Jacksonville and Yavapai County involving stakeholder interviews and on-site observations, and secondary analysis of breathalyzer test results from South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana.

The North Dakota 24/7 Sobriety implementation and outcomes data are a county-by-month panel of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) arrest events compiled from state Department of Transportation reports and a set of variables based on restricted 24/7 Sobriety program data describing program implementation by county in North Dakota from 2008 to 2015, with pre-program arrest data dating back to 2001.

The Assessment of National and State Tip Line Technology as a Strategy for Identifying Threats to School Safety was conducted by RTI International, in partnership with the Oregon State Police, from 2018 through 2021. The project was designed to describe the national prevalence and characteristics of school safety tip lines, and to develop lessons learned on successful implementation approaches by conducting a case study with the SafeOregon tip line. The three main goals of the project were to:

1. Describe the prevalence and variability of tip line technology in public middle and high schools across the U.S. through a national survey of school administrators (Component 1).
2. Evaluate the relationship between tip line technology implementation and school safety by augmenting the national survey data with publicly available data on student disciplinary and school safety outcomes from the Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) (Component 2).
3. Assess the implementation experiences, outputs, and costs through an in-depth case study in the state of Oregon (Component 3).

For component 1, RTI conducted a national survey of public middle and high school administrators. For component 2, RTI conducted a national evaluation of school tip lines and measures of school safety, merging the national survey findings with eleven offense categories schools reported to the Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC).

For Component 3, the team set out to better understand how tip lines are implemented, the characteristics or features of these systems, challenges school administrators face during implementation and use, and perceived effectiveness. Using a mixed-methods design, researchers analyzed the efforts to implement and operate Oregon's SafeOregon statewide school tip line program and present data from the national survey for context. Case study objectives included identifying the (1) prevalence and school characteristics of tip line use; (2) basic operational characteristics of tip lines, including partnerships, staffing, tip submission and triage processes, and anonymity and confidentiality; (3) barriers and challenges involved in tip line implementation; and (4) perceived impact of tip lines. This qualitative assessment was informed by interviews with key stakeholders, school administrators and students. As part of the final component, RTI analyzed tip line data from the SafeOregon statewide tip line program (2018-2020).

Data and documentation from the qualitative interviews (student focus groups and school-level stakeholders) will be made available at a future date.

This mixed-methods project examined comprehensive case management services provided from fiscal years 2006 to 2011 to adult survivors of human trafficking born outside of the United States. The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of different intervention strategies to stabilize, rehabilitate, and integrate survivors into wider society. Case management services were funded by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Program of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under the Per Capita Reimbursement Contract administered by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Several data sources were used for analysis: 1) A longitudinal, relational database of survivor cases as reported electronically by subcontracted social service providers throughout the United States, 2) intake assessment and case notes, and 3) group discussions and in-depth interviews with service providers to gain an understanding of the processes and dynamics involved in protecting survivors from repeat victimization and facilitating their reintegration into the mainstream society.

Two datasets are included in this collection: the Base dataset (DS1), a cleaned and merged version of USCCB records, and the Analysis dataset (DS2), which includes all base items and variables constructed for analysis. The qualitative interview data will be made available at a future date.

With the growing popularity, technological ease of using propensity score modeling (PSM), and the concern over its reliability and validity among scholars and practitioners, the researchers aimed to answer whether PSM methods can replicate the results from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In this secondary data analysis, the researchers gathered the datasets of 10 publicly available and restricted RCT studies from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), introduced an artificial selection bias into the treatment groups of these investigations, and then used each PSM technique to remove this selection bias. The team then compared the results generated from the PSM methods to those derived from the original RCT experiments, and meta-analyzed the findings across all studies to reveal the true reliability and validity of PSM in relation to RCTs using criminal justice data.

For each study used in this analysis, the researchers created SPSS syntax for variable recodes and artificial bias creation and a codebook with original study items, recoded variables, and analytic variables. (In one study, two RCTs were conducted and thus two sets of syntax and codebooks were created.) Seven text files contain the Stata and R code used to run each PSM technique. These materials have been zipped into a package and are available for restricted download. Please refer to the ICPSR README for more information.

Student threat assessment is intended to maintain school safety by resolving student conflicts or problems before they escalate into violence, with the secondary benefit of reducing reliance on safety practices that have deleterious consequences (e.g., zero-tolerance discipline). In 2013, Virginia legislation mandated the establishment of threat assessment teams in all K-12 public schools by July 1, 2014. The major goals of the project were to:

1. determine how student threat assessment is implemented in statewide practice in Virginia schools;
2. determine what student and school outcomes are associated with student threat assessment; and
3. determine whether training/technical assistance can improve student threat assessment.

To address Goal 1, the research team collected data across five years from the annual school safety audit survey that included information on how often threat assessments occur, characteristics of the threat cases, such as student demographics and how the threats were assessed, and the outcomes of the threat. The team also collected data on threat assessment training needs. To address Goal 2, the team correlated threat assessment data collected under Goal 1 with data on student and school outcomes obtained from the annual secondary school climate survey and statewide disciplinary records for school suspensions. To address Goal 3, the team developed, tested, and updated four separate online educational programs tailored to students, parents, staff, and threat assessment teams. These online programs have been implemented by schools in Virginia, 28 other states, and Canada.

This collection contains school safety audit data from 2013 to 2018 and all-time data for the online educational program assessments through 2019. Case-level data, high-risk case level data, and school climate data are available for limited years. Qualitative data on training needs will be made available in a future update.

The Link for Schools project was a longitudinal study evaluating the implementation and administration of a school-based violence prevention program, Link for Schools (also referred to as Link), in a high-risk school district in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Study populations consisted of school staff and community members who participated in a two-tiered training program aimed at preventing and intervening with violence, and a sample of children in grades 1-8 who attended a school where the program was implemented. Study procedures took place during three academic years, starting in 2017 and ending in 2020.

The Link program was built upon the principles of trauma-informed care (TIC) and psychological first aid (PFA) based in motivational interviewing to identify and intervene on mental health and behavioral precursors of violence, and to mitigate the immediate impacts of violence among exposed youth. TIC training for the entire school community served as the first tier of support, then a safety net of staff trained in PFA and screening for non-specific stress and referral (referred to as Link interventionists) served as a second tier. Students whose needs exceeded the existing school resources were directly referred to appropriate care.

This collection contains the following data types:

• Case management records for each encounter interventionists had with students during the study time period (DS1) and linkages to other supports (DS2)
• Pre- and post-program survey data from school staff (DS4, DS7)
• Post-training survey data from school staff or parents who completed trauma-informed care (TIC) training (DS3), and staff who completed Link interventionist trainings (DS5, DS6)
• Costs of program administration, implementation, and training to estimate cost effectiveness (DS8)
• Student administrative records shared by the school district to determine initial eligibility for the intervention and track outcomes related to disciplinary action (DS9)

Schools are a primary referral source to the juvenile justice system, helping create and perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline. Seeking to dismantle this pipeline in the city, the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) partnered with the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) to develop and operate the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program. Implemented in May 2014, all first-time offending youth aged 10 years or older who commit specified school-based minor misdemeanor or summary offenses on school property are diverted from arrest, referred to a Department of Human Services (DHS) social worker and community-based services, and face no consequences even if they decline services.

This evaluation examined long-term outcomes for diverted youth and sustained program impacts over five years. From a full sample of 3,616 diverted and arrested students, this study used a quasi-experimental design to compare data for diverted youth (quasi-experimental group; n = 1,281) and similar youth arrested in schools in the year before the program's implementation (quasi-control group; n = 531). PPD school police officers completed surveys regarding their knowledge and perceptions of the Diversion Program immediately before and after a training session held prior to its implementation, then on an annual basis through year five. A cost-benefit analysis of the program was conducted in partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice.

The data have been organized by analysis. Short-term analysis refers to two-year recidivism analyses and one-year child welfare involvement, and covers the full and quasi-control arrested samples and youth diverted in school years 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017. Long-term analyses include four-year graduation/drop-out, five-year recidivism analyses, and five-year child welfare involvement, and covers the full and quasi-control arrested samples and youth diverted in school year 2014-2015.

Short- and long-term recidivism outcome data (DS1 and DS2), police survey data before and after program implementation (DS3), and cost-benefit analysis tables (DS9) are included in this collection. Please refer to the User Guide for details on how to acquire additional data from SDP and DHS and steps to create the full analytic files for academic-related and child welfare involvement outcomes.

Tools for Life: Relationship-Building Solutions (TFL) is a program designed to improve school climate and safety through the proactive development of elementary and middle school students' interpersonal skills (relationship-building and communication) and intrapersonal skills (self-regulation and resiliency). In the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, the Jackson (Mississippi) Public School District (JPSD) implemented TFL in grades 1 through 8. RAND researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether TFL, integrated into existing school practices, positively affected school climate and safety in the district.

This project described the implementation of TFL in JPSD, calculated its costs, and evaluated the program's effectiveness. TFL was designed to improve whole-school change in relationships among staff and students, but the project researchers found that implementation of TFL in JPSD schools was generally shallow, and the program was rarely, if at all, implemented across a whole school as it was designed. TFL had little impact: After one year of implementation, there were no practically or statistically significant differences between schools that implemented TFL and those that did not in measures of students' social and emotional, school climate, behavioral, or achievement outcomes. In addition to the uneven implementation of the program, methodological limitations of the study and contextual factors in JPSD may have contributed to these finding.

In response to growing concerns about recidivism and the welfare of youth who return to communities from incarceration, the federal government passed the Second Chance Act (SCA) in 2008 to authorize funding to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of juvenile reentry programs (H.R. 1593, 110th Cong. 2007). Since then, more than 100 juvenile SCA awards have been made to grantees across the U.S. to improve reentry programming and outcomes for youth returning home after placement in juvenile correctional institutions (State Government Justice Center, 2017).

The purpose of this evaluation was to evaluate five FY2010 juvenile SCA grantees who were funded to implement comprehensive reentry programs for high-risk youth, and to provide policymakers, practitioners, and funders with empirical evidence about the degree to which the SCA program effectively reduced recidivism and improved reintegration outcomes for youth offenders, and to inform future comprehensive juvenile reentry efforts.

Specific goals of this study included:

1. identifying strong sites for an impact evaluation;
2. assessing the extent to which the sites successfully implemented a comprehensive and integrated model of juvenile reentry for a high-risk, high-needs population;
3. assessing program operations and adherence to reentry principles;
4. evaluating the impact of the SCA programs;
5. determining the cost effectiveness of the SCA programs, and their cost-benefit in terms of crime prevented; and
6. disseminating evaluation findings to practitioner and researcher audiences.

The Institute of Medicine and National Research Council in 2013 called for a paradigm shift within the justice system, toward treating minors involved in commercial sex as victims instead of criminals. Their call ultimately led to a proliferation at the state level of safe harbor laws--laws designed to remove the punitive sanctions for young victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The goal of this study was to begin measuring the impact of safe harbor laws. The methodology blends quantitative and qualitative analyses in a three-phase design.

Phase 1, a legal review, concentrates on the evolution of safe harbor laws in the United States. It presents an overview of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), details the philosophy and conceptualization of safe harbor laws, and presents findings regarding state-level efforts to adopt safe harbor laws.

Phase 2 uses elements of the legal review to conduct a quantitative assessment of safe harbor laws employing a quasi-experimental, longitudinal design to compare counties that have and have not implemented safe harbor laws over an 11-year period (2005-15).

Phase 3 involves an in-depth qualitative assessment of two states: one that implemented safe harbor laws and demonstrated positive outcomes, and one that implemented safe harbor laws without demonstrating positive outcomes.

Since 2015, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has funded sites to engage in reforms intended to improve the national response to sexual assault cases. The goals of this initiative are to (1) create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to unsubmitted sexual assault kit (SAK) cases through a victim-centered approach and (2) build jurisdictions' capacity to prevent the development of conditions that lead to high numbers of unsubmitted sexual assault kits. Site efforts to address these issues include agencies such as law enforcement, prosecution, forensic laboratories, and victim advocacy service organizations. Westat was awarded a contract by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to assess components of BJA's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). The study includes (1) an evaluability assessment of 17 sites to determine their readiness for an evaluation, (2) a process evaluation and system reform assessment of the 17 sites, (3) a feasibility assessment of using case level data for an outcome evaluation, and analysis of a subset of unsubmitted SAK cases to identify how characteristics of incidents, offenders, and victims are associated with case processing decisions and outcomes, and (4) development of a long-term outcome evaluation plan.

Two sources of data are archived with NAJCD: (1) coded qualitative data from primarily on-site interviews the Westat Team conducted in 2018 with stakeholders from 17 of the fiscal year (FY) 2015 SAKI grantees and 2 private lab facilities and 2) quantitative case-level data from the 2 FY 2015 SAKI grantees on SAKI cases associated with previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits that were determined to contain foreign DNA or biological evidence through laboratory testing. The interview data file contains coded data from 172 interviews the research team conducted with one or more agency representatives regarding their organization's goals, strategies, and activities for processing sexual assault kits, and associated lessons learned, challenges, and expected outcomes. The quantitative case-level data file includes case-level information on 576 sexual assault kits determined to have DNA and associated cases included in the 2 sites' SAKI inventories. The case-level data captures information on case or offense-level information (e.g., date of offense, date offense reported to police, number of victims and suspects involved, investigation and prosecution activities), victim-level information (e.g., victim age, sex, race, participation in investigation), and suspect-level information (e.g., suspect's age, race, sex, criminal history).

Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is an increasingly urgent problem for criminal justice systems in the United States. Despite the staggering individual and societal consequences of CSE, evidence-based prevention and intervention programs are profoundly lacking. This study used a quasi-experimental, mixed methods, longitudinal follow-up design to evaluate a service provision program for CSE survivors or those identified as high-risk for CSE, My Life My Choice (MLMC). Researchers followed youth who received MLMC services from baseline to multiple follow-up points to see how they progressed over time in terms of building up resistance to being sexually exploited.

Youth received one of two different type of MLMC services. One group (Source 1) received one-on-one survivor mentoring, otherwise known as "tertiary prevention." Participants in this program are paired with mentors who have been trained and free from CSE for at least five years. Mentors provide long-term and consistent emotional support to exploited youth or those MLMC believes are at high-risk for exploitation. The Source 1 youth were recruited only from Massachusetts. They participated in quantitative and qualitative data collection at baseline, six months post-baseline, and 12 months post-baseline.

A second group (Source 2) received 3-10 sessions of a psychoeducational prevention group following the MLMC curriculum, otherwise known as "secondary prevention." These groups are led by trained facilitators and are intended for youth at high-risk for exploitation. Participants are taught about sexual exploitation, healthy relationships, sexual health, and how to find help. Source 2 youth received MLMC services in Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, or Connecticut. They participated in quantitative data collection at baseline, time of the last group session, and six months post-baseline.

Measured outcomes included instances of sexual exploitation in the past six months, frequency and type of substance use, partner abuse victimization, and housing stability. Researchers hypothesized that, among the secondary prevention group, youth who chose to interact with MLMC staff more often (in terms of attending educational sessions) would score higher on desired outcomes than those frequently absent or who do not interact with staff as often. Among the tertiary prevention group, researchers hypothesized that those who participated would demonstrate improved outcomes from baseline to six months and baseline to 12 months.

In 2014, the researchers began work on a grant from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate the effectiveness of home and field contacts in community supervision. The study was designed to describe the varying practices of home and other field contacts in community supervision, to document their use nationwide, and to evaluate their effectiveness in maintaining public safety and promoting compliance with supervision requirements. The research is designed to address the gap in the understanding of home and field contacts as part of community supervision.

While home and field contacts with clients are common practice within many probation and parole agencies, little is known about how they are conducted, the goals of their use, and whether they impact client outcomes. Researchers conducted a mixed methods study of home and field contact practices within multiple agencies. A nationwide survey of community supervision agencies at the federal, state, and local levels was conducted to understand common policies and practices for home and field contacts. To analyze the effectiveness of home and field contacts, quasi-experimental designs were employed using administrative data. To understand the activities that make up home and field contacts and the goals behind them within each agency, officers were asked to complete a qualitative home and field contact checklist and participate in focus groups.

This project convened experts and practitioners in the areas of program evaluation, radicalization to violent extremism, and social media analytics in order to generate and integrate scientifically derived knowledge into strategies for effective prevention and intervention against domestic radicalization and violent extremism in the United States. More specifically, we generated substantive evaluation data, which can be used by practitioners and policy makers to enhance the creation and dissemination of effective counter-narratives for reducing the threat of ideologically-motivated violence in the US. We used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate an existing nationwide initiative, Peer-to-Peer (P2P): Challenging Extremism, which aims at engaging youth in countering violent extremism in schools and online arenas.

The project had four specific objectives: 1) Evaluate the content and dissemination of the P2P Initiative social media products, 2) evaluate the impact of the P2P Initiative on youth engaged in its development, 3) evaluate the impact of youth exposure to the P2P educational activities, and 4) assess the drivers of success and barriers in the implementation of the initiative.

To complete these objectives, the following research phases were conducted:

A secondary review of 150 P2P social media products created between fall 2015 and spring 2017, including data on end-users interactivity.

Phone and in-person group interviews with faculty and students engaged in the P2P Initiative.

A prospective cohort study evaluating the impact of the Kombat with Kindness (KWK) campaign on Utah secondary school students, using a pre-post intervention design.

A randomized control study evaluating the impact of the Operation 250 (OP250) on Massachusetts secondary school students, using a pre-post intervention design.

Phone interviews with faculty who implemented the P2P Initiative.

From 2012 through 2016, MDRC, a non-profit research organization, conducted an evaluation of the scale-up effort of Success for All PowerTeaching in middle-school math. PowerTeaching, a structured cooperative learning program, was designed to do just that. The study was funded by an Investing in Innovation (i3) fund from the U.S. Department of Education. The expansion of PowerTeaching through an i3 grant offers the education field a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to help teachers create cooperative learning environments in their classrooms.

The Success for All PowerTeaching scale-up evaluation examines the PowertTeaching implementation and how it impacts five school districts over a two-year period (the 2014-2015 school year through the 2015-2016 school year). It also considers the scale-up process itself - the methods employed and the extent to which the Success for All Foundation (SFAF), the organization that developed and provides technical assistance to schools operating the program, achieved its scale-up goals.

The ten data files included in this study contain a range of variable information gathered from student-level test scores, teacher and school principal surveys, school achievement snapshots, teacher logs, and scale-up initiative evaluations. Key variables include district IDs, teacher and principal IDs, baseline and outcome standardized test scores, structural and instructional processes, and records of teacher logs. Demographic variables for students include information on race, gender, special education, free/reduced lunch eligibility, ELL status, and age.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information in needed.

This study conducts an environmental scan of current Family Justice Centers (FJCs) across the United States as part of a multi-phase effort to develop a formal evaluation plan to measure the effectiveness of FJCs and similar multi-agency co-located collaboratives.

The collection contains 1 SAS data file (fjc_analysis_nacjd_20180226.sas7bdat (n=52; 813 variables)) and 1 syntax file.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

This study was a secondary analysis of Custody Evaluators' Beliefs about Domestic Abuse Allegations, 2009-2010 [United States] (ICPSR 30962 - https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR30962.v1). The purpose of this study was to conduct further analysis of a recent, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) sponsored national survey of professionals to better understand the relationship between family law statutes and professionals' recommendations for child custody and visitation in cases of intimate partner violence. The samples involve 512 child custody evaluators and 200 judges from 46 states. Evaluators and judges responded to a case vignette of serious intimate partner violence (IPV). They indicated recommendations they would make for custody and visitation and the perceived risk of future harm. Evaluators also reported on their history of actual recommendations in IPV cases. The original study investigated beliefs about custody, value-laden beliefs, knowledge professionals had acquired on IPV, the number of survivors they had known, and their work setting, education, and other demographics. In the current study, statutory provisions with sufficient sample sizes of professionals with and without the provisions were used in the analysis.

Psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate majors in American universities, despite the fact that the discipline still has many unsettled questions regarding fundamental philosophical and methodological issues. These issues may be associated with a lack of clarity regarding an accurate conception of science and the nature of the relationship between psychology and science with respect to these controversies. Kuhn (1967) has suggested that scientific paradigms are transmitted in textbooks.

To understand how the scientific status of psychology is depicted, 30 undergraduate textbooks were examined. Textbooks were examined on the following categories:

1. What constitutes science is controversial
2. Bad (Pseudo) science
3. Second demarcation problem
4. Deductive stance
5. Inductive stance
6. Verisimilitude/tentativeness of science
7. Theory ladenness of facts
8. The role of theory in hypothesis formation
9. The role of competing theories (i.e. Laudan)
10. Social constructionism (vs. natural kinds)
11. Rhetorical views of science
12. Science and biases (e.g., political influences)
13. The role of ad hoc hypotheses
14. Evolutionary epistemology
15. Recognition of conceptual problems (i.e. is it important for science to address conceptual problems or only empirical ones?)
16. Kuhnian paradigms
17. Mature vs pre-paradigm sciences
18. Strict method vs "anything goes" (i.e. Feyerabend).

Introductory, cognitive, social, and abnormal textbooks were examined.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

The Safe Start Promising Approaches for Children Exposed to Violence Initiative funded 10 sites to implement and evaluate programs to improve outcomes for children exposed to violence. RAND conducted the national evaluation of these programs, in collaboration with the sites and a national evaluation team, to focus on child-level outcomes. The dataset includes data gathered at the individual family-level at baseline, 6-, 12-months. All families were engaged in experimental or quasi-experimental studies comparing the Safe Start intervention to enhanced services-as-usual, alternative services, a wait-list control group, or a comparable comparison group of families that did not receive Safe Start services. Data sources for the outcome evaluation were primary caregiver interviews, child interviews (for ages 8 and over), and family/child-level service utilization data provided by the Safe Start program staff.

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) funded agencies to develop programs to improve criminal justice, employment, education, health, and housing outcomes for released prisoners. SVORI was a goal-oriented initiative that specified outcomes that should be achieved by programs that were developed locally. The original Multi-site Evaluation of SVORI funded under NIJ grant 2004-RE-CX-0002 included a quasi-experimental impact evaluation to determine the effectiveness of programming. Specifically, the purpose of the impact evaluation was to determine whether individuals who participated in enhanced reentry programming, as measured by their enrollment in SVORI programs, had improved post-release outcomes than comparable individuals who did not participate in SVORI programming. Impact evaluation data collection for both SVORI and non-SVORI participants consisted of four waves of in-person, computer-assisted interviews and oral swab drug tests conducted in conjunction with two of the follow-up interviews. The research team collected data on a total of 2,391 individuals including 1,697 adult males (Part 1), 357 adult females (Part 2), and 337 juvenile males (Part 3). As part of the impact evaluation, experienced RTI field interviewers conducted pre-release interviews with offenders approximately 30 days before release from prison and a series of follow-up interviews at 3, 9, and 15 months post-release. These data provided information on criminal history and recidivism occurring by December 31, 2007. The Adult Males Data (Part 1), Adult Females Data (Part 2), and the Juvenile Males Data (Part 3) each contain the same 5,566 variables from the 3 waves of offender interviews, 10 drug test lab results variables, and 3 weight variables. (Note: Some interview questions were only asked of adults, and other questions were only asked of juveniles.) Offender interview variables include demographics, housing, employment, education, military experience, family background, peer relationships, program operations and services, physical and mental health, substance abuse, crime and delinquency, and attitudes toward those topics.

Under NIJ Grant 2009-IJ-CX-0010, the original Multi-site Evaluation of SVORI data were updated in order to examine the questions of, "What works, for whom, and for how long?" This included follow-up interview questions of those previously (and currently still) incarcerated. New variables derived from data collected under the original SVORI impact evaluation between 2004 and 2007 were also added to Part 3. Part one included an additional 100 variables, part two an additional 102 variables and part 3 an additional 99 variables.

This study evaluated program design, quality of treatment delivery, and program effectiveness of three separate state sponsored alcohol specific treatment programs in prisons located in Montana, Ohio, and Texas from 2006 to 2012.

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

The goal of the study was to determine what effect, if any, the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program had on students. The G.R.E.A.T., a 13-lesson general prevention program taught by uniformed law enforcement officers to middle school students, had three stated goals: 1) to reduce gang membership, 2) to reduce delinquency, especially violent offending, and 3) to improve students' attitudes toward the police.

To assess program effectiveness, researchers conducted a randomized control trial involving 3,820 students nested in 195 classrooms in 31 schools in 7 cities. A process evaluation consisted of multiple methods to assess program fidelity: 1) observations of G.R.E.A.T. Officer Trainings, 2) surveys and interviews of G.R.E.A.T.-trained officers and supervisors, 3) surveys of school personnel, and 4) "on-site," direct observations of officers delivering the G.R.E.A.T. program in the study sites. Only the data from the student surveys, law enforcement officer surveys, and school personnel surveys are available.

Data file 1 (Student Survey Data) has 3,820 cases and 1,926 variables. Data file 2 (Law Enforcement Survey Data) has 137 cases and 140 variables. Data file 3 (School Personnel Survey Data) has 230 cases and 148 variables.

The Impacts and Implementation of the i3-Funded Scale-Up of Success for All study examined the implementation and impacts of a whole-school reform model, Success for All (SFA), which seeks to increase reading proficiency among students in elementary schools serving low-income children, as this model was scaled up under an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant from the United States Department of Education. The impact evaluation used a cluster random assignment design in which 37 schools in five school districts were selected at random either to implement SFA (the program group schools) or to put in place their business-as-usual reading program (the control group schools). This collection contains Parts 1 to 7 for public use; and Part 8 for restricted use only.

In Part 1: Primary Student Sample data, children who began kindergarten in sampled schools and remained in them through second grade were assessed using standardized assessments of phonics skills, reading fluency, and comprehension. In Part 2: Auxiliary Sample, additional analyses examined third-year impacts on reading skills for all second graders, whether or not they remained continuously enrolled in the study schools, and for students in grades 3 through 5. The analysis also examined impacts for subgroups defined by ethnicity, early literacy skills measured upon entry into kindergarten, and other variables.

Part 3: School Achievement Snapshot Data contain implementation data for analysis using an instrument created by SFA's developers that measures the extent to which program elements were put in place at each program group at the end of each year. This instrument was utilized to assess fidelity to the program model. The implementation analysis was also informed by principal (Part 5: Principal Survey) and teacher surveys (Part 4: Teacher Survey) in all schools, as well by logs (Part 6: Teacher Log) that asked teachers to document their instructional practices in early reading classes. These data, collected in all three study years, make it possible to measure implementation over the study period and to compare program group schools and control group schools on a variety of dimensions.

Part 7: Scale-Up Sample Data provided data on the schools that adopted SFA (and those which were approached, but did not adopt), and schools that adopted before the Investing in Innovations grant. Part 8 is the restricted version of Part 7, which retains geographic location variables.

In 2008, a group of uninsured low-income adults in Oregon was selected by lottery to be given the chance to apply for Medicaid. This lottery provides an opportunity to gauge the effects of expanding access to public health insurance on the health care use, financial strain, and health of low-income adults using a randomized controlled design. The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment follows and compares those selected in the lottery (treatment group) with those not selected (control group). The data collected and provided here include data from in-person interviews, three mail surveys, emergency department records, and administrative records on Medicaid enrollment, the initial lottery sign-up list, welfare benefits, and mortality.

This data collection has seven data files:

Dataset 1 contains administrative data on the lottery from the state of Oregon. These data include demographic characteristics that were recorded when individuals signed up for the lottery, date of lottery draw, and information on who was selected for the lottery, applied for the lotteried Medicaid plan if selected, and whose application for the lotteried plan was approved. Also included are Oregon mortality data for 2008 and 2009.

Dataset 2 contains information from the state of Oregon on the individuals' participation in Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

Datasets 3-5 contain the data from the initial, six month, and 12 month mail surveys, respectively. Topics covered by the surveys include demographic characteristics; health insurance, access to health care and health care utilization; health care needs, experiences, and costs; overall health status and changes in health; and depression and medical conditions and use of medications to treat them.

Dataset 6 contains an analysis subset of the variables from the in-person interviews. Topics covered by the survey questionnaire include overall health, health insurance coverage, health care access, health care utilization, conditions and treatments, health behaviors, medical and dental costs, and demographic characteristics. The interviewers also obtained blood pressure and anthropometric measurements and collected dried blood spots to measure levels of cholesterol, glycated hemoglobin and C-reactive protein.

Dataset 7 contains an analysis subset of the variables the study obtained for all emergency department (ED) visits to twelve hospitals in the Portland area during 2007-2009. These variables capture total hospital costs, ED costs, and the number of ED visits categorized by time of the visit (daytime weekday or nighttime and weekends), necessity of the visit (emergent, ED care needed, non-preventable; emergent, ED care needed, preventable; emergent, primary care treatable), ambulatory case sensitive status, whether or not the patient was hospitalized, and the reason for the visit (e.g., injury, abdominal pain, chest pain, headache, and mental disorders).

The collection also includes a ZIP archive (Dataset 8) with Stata programs that replicate analyses reported in three articles by the principal investigators and others:

Finkelstein, Amy et al "The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. August 2012. Vol 127(3).

Baicker, Katherine et al "The Oregon Experiment - Effects of Medicaid on Clinical Outcomes". New England Journal of Medicine. 2 May 2013. Vol 368(18).

Taubman, Sarah et al "Medicaid Increases Emergency Department Use: Evidence from Oregon's Health Insurance Experiment". Science. 2 Jan 2014.