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IN THIS ISSUE:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Criminal Victimization, 2019

Racial Disparities in the Massachusetts Criminal System


EDUCATION

Educator Competencies for Student-Centered Teaching

Affirmative Action and Pre-College Human Capital

COVID-19 and Rural Higher Education

The Labor Market Doesn’t Have a ‘Skills Gap’ — It Has an Opportunity Gap


GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

Florida Airport Sustainability Tracking/Monitoring System

The Cycle of Savings: What We Gain When We Understand Savings as a Dynamic Process

Trends in Income From 1975 to 2018


HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES

State Suicide Rates Among Adolescents and Young Adults Aged 10–24: United States, 2000–2018

Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Do Black and Indigenous Communities Receive their Fair Share of Vaccines Under the 2018 CDC Guidelines?

Community Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: A Guide for Community-Based Organizations



September 25, 2020

Criminal_Justice
CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Part of the Bureau of Justice Statistics Criminal Victimization Series, this report is the 47th in a series that began in 1973. It provides official estimates of criminal victimizations reported and not reported to police from the National Crime Victimization Survey. It describes the characteristics of crimes, victims, and offenders. In addition, this year, the report provides new classifications of urban, suburban, and rural areas, with the goal of presenting a more accurate picture of where criminal victimizations occur. Highlights from this report include: the rate of violent crime excluding simple assault declined 15% from 2018 to 2019, from 8.6 to 7.3 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older; among females, the rate of violent victimization excluding simple assault fell 27% from 2018 to 2019; there were 880,000 fewer victims of serious crimes (generally felonies) in 2019 than in 2018, a 19% drop; from 2018 to 2019, 29% fewer black persons and 22% fewer white persons were victims of serious crimes; and the rate of violent victimization in urban areas (based on the new classifications of urban, suburban, and rural areas) declined 20% from 2018 to 2019.

Source: Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

This report explores the factors that lead to persistent racial disparities in the Massachusetts criminal system by leveraging detailed administrative data from several agencies, including the Massachusetts Trial Court, the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, and the Department of Correction. These data provide a useful, if incomplete, window into several different stages of the criminal system from charging and bail to adjudication and sentencing. In this report, the authors focus particularly on understanding the factors that contribute to the large disparities in incarceration rates that motivated this work. Through their analysis, the authors found that Black and Latin-x people are overrepresented in the criminal caseload compared to their population in the state. White people make up roughly 74% of the Massachusetts population while accounting for 58.7% of cases in the data. Meanwhile, Black people make up 6.5% of the Massachusetts population and account for 17.1% of cases. Latin-x people are similarly overrepresented, making up 8.7% of the Massachusetts population but 18.3% of the cases in the sample. The authors use regression analysis to consider several factors that may contribute to or explain the substantial disparities they document, including the defendants’ criminal history and demographics, initial charge severity, court jurisdiction, and neighborhood characteristics. The regression analysis indicates that even after accounting for these characteristics, Black and Latin-x people are still sentenced to 31 and 25 days longer than their similarly situated White counterparts, suggesting that racial disparities in sentence length cannot solely be explained by the contextual factors that the authors consider and permeate the entire criminal justice process.

Source: The Criminal Justice Policy Program, Harvard Law School

Education
EDUCATION

The idea of student-centered learning is not new; teachers have long sought to design personalized, competency-based environments that are tailored to individuals and that empower students to drive their own learning. What is new is the emergence of an online learning ecosystem and, with it, the technical possibility of equipping all students with a student-centered model. Add to this mix COVID-19, which has provoked unprecedented demand for reinventing what teachers do, and it’s the perfect combination of catalysts for a rapid conversion to student-centered schooling. But a barrier remains. Most K–12 educators today don’t have the skill sets necessary to run student-centered schools. This report helps dismantle that barrier by identifying specific student-centered competencies for educators in the field that can be stacked to create customized student-centered teaching micro-credentials. In this report, the authors use the Theory of Interdependence and Modularity as a framework for analyzing solutions for student-centered professional development, propose 66 educator micro-credentials for student-centered teaching, profile 14 leaders who are at the vanguard of student-centered teaching, and offer recommendations for how to move the micro-credentialing ecosystem forward. The authors argue that micro-credentials could be the solution for making student-centered professional development affordable, easy to set up, and customizable. Example of micro-credentials include working through conflict, addressing individual student needs for blended learning, and choosing foundational design pillars.

Source: Christensen Institute

Racial affirmative action policies are widespread in college admissions. Yet, evidence on their effects before college is limited. Using four data sets, the authors study a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reinstated affirmative action in three states. Using nationwide SAT data for difference-in-differences and synthetic control analyses, the authors separately identify the aggregate effects of affirmative action for whites and for underrepresented minorities. Using state-wide Texas administrative data, they measure the effect of affirmative action on racial gaps across the pre-treatment test score distribution. When affirmative action is re-instated, racial gaps in SAT scores, grades, attendance, and college applications fall. Average SAT scores for both whites and minorities increase, suggesting that reductions in racial gaps are driven by improvements in minorities' outcomes. Increases in pre-college human capital and college applications are concentrated in the top half of the test score distribution.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused seismic shifts for postsecondary education. For rural colleges, the pandemic exacerbated issues that have affected students and communities for decades. Education gaps between rural communities and their more urbanized counterparts are well documented. While 41% of urban adults have a college degree, only 28% of rural adults do. The college access gap between rural and urban areas is sizable: In most states, rural high school students achieve graduation rates similar to urban and suburban counterparts, but their college enrollment rates are much lower. This report offers the following ideas to promote rural equality beyond the pandemic: 1) rural colleges should work to find ways to support local entrepreneurs and create effective programs that will generate local jobs; 2) rural colleges and communities should consider building telecommuting hubs (co-working spaces that offer broadband and office space) to help students and graduates stay in their communities while pursuing high-wage remote work; 3) increase dual enrollment programs in rural areas; and 4) find creative ways to avoid closing rural colleges; 5) consider remote or hybrid faculty positions to attract faculty with expertise in high-demand fields who may be better paid in urban settings.

Source: MDRC

As the United States reels from the COVID-19 pandemic’s catastrophic economic damage, the tight labor markets from early 2020 seem like a distant memory. The country had 11.5 million fewer jobs this August than in February, but, paradoxically, many business leaders continue to center the problem with labor markets on “unqualified individuals without the right skills.” Instead of focusing on the skills gap, the authors argue that it’s time to focus on closing the opportunity gap—not only for the benefit of individuals who have been shut out of the labor market, but for society as a whole. Cultivating and investing in diverse talent can unleash regional innovation, economic growth, and community well-being. A more equitable economy that unlocks the potential in all of the country’s talent will require structural changes, supporting institutions, and updated regulatory frameworks.

Source: Brookings Institution

Government Operations
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

Tracking and monitoring airport sustainability performance, which aims to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, is an essential component of an airport's sustainability program development process and also the foundation for continuous development of airport systems. This study identified airport sustainability performance metrics under the Economic Vitality, Operational Efficiency, Natural Resources, and Social Responsibility focus area based on literature reviews and industry inputs from a survey disseminated to the Florida airports. A comprehensive web-based tracking system was developed and incorporated into Florida Aviation Database. The system allows airport managers to input and archive data (such as the number of full-time equivalent airport employees and the numbers of commercial and general aviation aircraft based at the airport) and has the capabilities of computing and analyzing airport sustainability performance and comparing that across different years or with other peer airports. A case study was performed for two airports – Commercial Service airport at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport and General Aviation airport at Immokalee Regional Airport – to obtain the baseline sustainability performance metrics. The tracking and monitoring system provides a powerful tool to both airport managers and Florida Department of Transportation staff to access and archive sustainable performance data and to analyze airport sustainability performance. It also increases airports’ awareness of collecting and documenting relevant data to expand their performance tracking inventory.

Source: Florida Department of Transportation

A consistent body of research in the United States and abroad finds that certain money management behaviors, including having a habit of saving regularly, are associated with better financial health and well-being in the present and in the future, for households across the income spectrum. And according to research by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, liquid savings is the single factor that is most highly correlated with financial well-being. The goal of this report is to provide the growing number of funders, employers, policymakers, financial institutions, and others who are committed to helping households build liquid savings with evidence and insights about the actual experience, process, and value of savings for low and moderate-income households. The report highlights an important opportunity to recalibrate the understanding of shorter-term savings through consideration of the savings cycle—the building, using, and replenishing of savings that is critical to support families working toward their financial goals, weather financial shocks, and make mobility-enhancing investments. With this savings cycle in mind, policymakers, philanthropists, and program and product designers including financial institutions, employers, and benefit administrators can take a new perspective, understanding savings as a flow variable as much as a stock, in reviewing their solutions, success metrics, and offerings. Developing high-quality products and services that reflect how individuals engage with the savings cycle, and removing barriers to access to them, would support household financial stability in the short- and medium-term, and put them on track for longer-term economic mobility.

Source: Aspen Institute

The three decades following the Second World War saw a period of economic growth that was shared across the income distribution, but inequality in taxable income has increased substantially over the last four decades. This work seeks to quantify the scale of income gap created by rising inequality compared to a counterfactual in which growth was shared more broadly. The authors introduce a time-period agnostic and income-level agnostic measure of inequality that relates income growth to economic growth. This new metric can be applied over long stretches of time, applied to subgroups of interest, and easily calculated. They document the cumulative effect of four decades of income growth below the growth of per capita gross national income and estimate that aggregate income for the population below the 90th percentile over this time period would have been $2.5 trillion (67%) higher in 2018 had income growth since 1975 remained as equitable as it was in the first two post-War decades. From 1975 to 2018, the difference between the aggregate taxable income for those below the 90th percentile and the equitable growth counterfactual totals $47 trillion. The authors further explore trends in inequality by applying this metric within and across business cycles from 1975 to 2018 and also by demographic group.

Source: RAND Corporation

Health and Human Services
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

This report presents suicide death rates among persons aged 10–24 for the United States and by state for 2000 through 2018 and percent change between 3-year periods of 2007–2009 and 2016–2018. Suicide rates are compared among states for 2016–2018. Nationally, the suicide rate among persons aged 10–24 was statistically stable from 2000 to 2007 and then increased 57.4%, from 6.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 10.7 in 2018. Between 2007–2009 and 2016–2018, suicide rates increased significantly in 42 states, increased non-significantly in 8 states, and were not possible to assess in the District of Columbia due to small numbers. Significant increases ranged from 21.7% in Maryland to a more than doubling of the rate in New Hampshire. In 2016–2018, suicide rates for persons aged 10–24 were highest in Alaska, while some of the lowest rates in the country were among states in the Northeast. Florida had the third lowest percent increase in suicide death rates among persons aged 10–24 years between 2007–2009 and 2016–2018 at 29.2%.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

This report summarizes key findings from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health for national indicators of substance use and mental health among the civilian, non-institutionalized population aged 12 or older in the United States. Key findings include that among people aged 12 or older in 2019, 60.1% (or 165.4 million people) used a substance (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, kratom, or an illicit drug) in the past month. In particular, 50.8% (or 139.7 million people) drank alcohol in the past month, 21.1% (or 58.1 million people) used a tobacco product in the past month, and 13.0% (or 35.8 million people) used an illicit drug in the past month. In addition, 0.3% (or 825,000 people) used kratom in the past month. Among people aged 12 or older in 2019 who used any tobacco product in the past month, 65.3% smoked cigarettes but did not use other tobacco products, 13.8% smoked cigarettes and used some other type of tobacco product, and 21.0% used only non-cigarette tobacco products. Thus, most of the past month tobacco users in the United States were cigarette users. Among the 139.7 million current alcohol users aged 12 or older in 2019, 65.8 million people (47.1%) were past month binge drinkers. Among past month binge drinkers, 16.0 million people (24.4% of current binge drinkers and 11.5% of current alcohol users) were past month heavy drinkers. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, the percentage who were past month alcohol users declined from 17.6% (or 4.4 million people) in 2002 to 9.4% (or 2.3 million people) in 2019. The percentage who were past month binge alcohol users declined from 5.8% (or 1.4 million people) in 2015 to 4.9% (or 1.2 million people) in 2019. Among people aged 12 or older, the number of past year initiates of marijuana use increased from 2.2 million people in 2002 to 3.5 million people in 2019. The number of past year initiates of cocaine use decreased from 1.0 million in 2002 to 671,000 in 2019.

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

A major focus of debate about rationing guidelines for COVID-19 vaccines is whether and how to prioritize access for minority populations that have been particularly affected by the pandemic, and been the subject of historical and structural disadvantage, particularly Black and Indigenous individuals. The authors simulate the 2018 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Allocation guidelines using data from the American Community Survey under different assumptions on total vaccine supply. Black and Indigenous individuals combined receive a higher share of vaccines compared to their population share for all assumptions on total vaccine supply. However, their vaccine share under the 2018 CDC guidelines is considerably lower than their share of COVID-19 deaths and age-adjusted deaths. The authors then simulate one method to incorporate disadvantage in vaccine allocation via a reserve system. In a reserve system, units are placed into categories and units reserved for a category give preferential treatment to individuals from that category. Using the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) as a proxy for disadvantage, they show that a 40% high-ADI reserve increases the number of vaccines allocated to Black or Indigenous individuals, with a share that approaches their COVID-19 death share when there are about 75 million units. These findings illustrate that whether an allocation is equitable depends crucially on the benchmark and highlight the importance of considering the expected distribution of outcomes from implementing vaccine allocation guidelines.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

This guide is meant to assist community-based organizations that are interested in facilitating remote community engagement activities. Although the guide was developed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it can also be used by organizations looking to broaden their outreach strategy generally. In this guide, the authors present a list of tools that can be used for facilitating remote community engagement activities and aim to elevate some best practices for any form of in-person or remote community engagement. In the appendices, they provide a few worksheets to help you plan your community engagement activities and a list of supplemental resources on inclusive community engagement methods.

Source: Urban Institute


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