June 17, 2022
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In the United States, many states have established
forensic science oversight bodies, which take many forms
and have myriad roles and responsibilities. In all cases,
however, these forensic science oversight bodies help
ensure complete, accurate, and timely evidence collection
and forensic analysis and the transparent, efficient, and
effective operation of publicly funded crime laboratories.
This report provides a review for states wishing to create
and maintain a state forensic science oversight body.
Recognizing the substantial differences that exist among
states regarding governance, culture, statutes, and crime
laboratory systems, this report provides an overview of
considerations in planning for and developing a
state-level forensic science oversight mechanism.
Statewide oversight focuses on communication and
collaboration among crime laboratories, allocation of
resources, laboratory improvements, promulgation of
accreditation and certification standards, investigations
into misconduct or professional negligence, and other
implementation and oversight issues.
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Source: Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of
Justice
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These tables supplement the Immigration, Citizenship, and
the Federal Justice System, 1998-2018 report, which BJS
published in August 2019. That was the first BJS report to
comprehensively describe the citizenship of suspects
arrested and prosecuted for federal offenses, and it
highlighted trends from 1998 through 2018. These
supplemental tables add 2019 and 2020 data to some of the
tables from the original report. The original report found
that 95% of the increase in federal arrests across 20
years were for immigration offenses, such as illegal entry
into the United States. The supplemental data provides
additional information on immigration suspects in matters
concluded by federal prosecutors, by type of immigration
offense and federal judicial districts for Fiscal Years
2019 and 2020 as well as data on the percent of
immigration suspects who were federally prosecuted in U.S.
district court by type of immigration offense. Over half
of all immigration cases are disposed by federal
prosecutors within three days of receiving the case.
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Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of
Justice
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Helping teachers become more effective in the classroom is
a high priority for educators and policymakers. A growing
body of evidence suggests that individualized coaching
focused on general teaching practices can improve
teachers’ instruction and student achievement. However,
little is known about the benefits of specific approaches
to coaching, including who is doing the coaching, how
coaches observe teachers’ instruction, and how or how
often coaches provide feedback to teachers. This study
examined one promising strategy for individualized
coaching: professional coaches—rather than district or
school staff— providing feedback to teachers based on
videos of their instruction. Feedback based on videos
gives teachers the opportunity to observe and reflect on
their own teaching and allows coaches to show teachers
specific moments from their teaching when providing
feedback. For this study, 107 elementary schools were
randomly divided into three groups: one that received
fewer highly structured cycles of focused professional
coaching during a single school year (five cycles), one
that received more (eight cycles), and one that continued
with its usual strategies for supporting teachers. The
study compared teachers’ experiences and student
achievement across the three groups to determine the
effectiveness of the two versions of the coaching. The
study found that five coaching cycles based on videos of
teachers’ instruction improved students’ achievement,
including for novice teachers and those teachers who begin
the study with weaker classroom practices. However,
teachers that received eight cycles of coaching did not
improve student achievement, thus results should be
interpreted cautiously.
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Source: Institute of Education Sciences
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What works to help community college students progress
academically? This research brief synthesizes 20 years of
rigorous research by MDRC, presenting new evidence about
key attributes of community college interventions that are
positively related to larger impacts on students’ academic
progress. Findings are based on a synthesis of evidence
from 30 randomized controlled trials of 39 postsecondary
interventions involving 60,000 students. The results of
this research consistently indicate that the impacts of
community college interventions increase with: the
comprehensiveness of the intervention, as measured by its
number of components; and the promotion of full-time
enrollment (during fall and spring) and summer enrollment.
The report also finds promising evidence that suggests the
impacts of community college interventions also increase
with the extent that the community colleges increase
advising use among students, tutoring among students, and
financial support for students.
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Source: MDRC
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In recent decades, state policymakers across the country
have turned to early literacy policies to address
students’ reading proficiency—particularly in third grade.
Though states’ policies vary widely in terms of the
interventions and supports provided to educators and
students, their intent is similar: to get students reading
on grade level by the end of third grade. As of 2021, 46
states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) have at least
one policy related to third-grade literacy. Nineteen of
these states have retention-based policies—meaning that
they identify for retention third graders whose state
assessment results fall below an established cut score.
This brief reviews the research on early literacy policies
and concludes that while they may be effective at
improving student achievement in the short term, these
policies do not include a full range of best practices in
literacy instruction. Considering the ultimate goal of
improving students’ early reading skills, this brief
provides recommendations for policymakers to create
effective literacy legislation, including that instead of
limiting the legislation to the “Big Five” components of
reading, include a set of instructional best practices in
literacy, and to ensure initial, ongoing, and targeted
professional development in literacy for K-3 teachers.
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Source: National Education Policy Center, University of
Colorado Boulder
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With an increase in the frequency and intensity of severe
weather events that affect electric distribution
infrastructure, there is an urgent need to define power
outage resilience and identify methods to assess and
certify whether and how planning actions and project
implementations have made communities more resilient.
Accordingly, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center
initiated the Clean Energy and Resiliency (CLEAR) program
to provide technical services to nine community sites in
the commonwealth, which formed the basis of a convenience
sample for this study. For this study, researchers
conducted stakeholder interviews and a literature review
to articulate power outage resilience metrics, piloted a
certification program, and used focus groups to assess
pathways to the CLEAR program's operationalization and
administration. The authors found that definitions of
power outage resilience vary widely and that qualitative
and quantitative criteria are required for a comprehensive
assessment of power outage resilience. Additionally, the
authors found that even partial completion of the CLEAR
program increased broader community awareness of power
outage resilience for and beyond the facility under
certification. However, the authors also noted that even
with technical services support, completing certification
was demanding on time and resources absent additional
programmatic support.
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Source: RAND Corporation
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As wildfires increase in scale and intensity, various
stakeholders now have new incentives to participate and
address the wildfire crisis together. The Aspen Institute
Energy and Environment Program and The Nature Conservancy
brought together leading experts to discuss how innovative
financing structures and private capital might be used to
increase investments in resilience, and therefore reduce
the negative wildfire impacts that are threatening more
and more areas. This workshop highlighted effective models
such as environmental impact bonds, partnerships with
utilities, and new insurance products as solutions to
build resilience. This report summarizes lessons learned
from these models, future policy changes at federal and
state levels that could scale efforts and contribute to
the paradigm shift necessary for the country to adapt to
climate change driven wildfire increases, and other key
points of conversation.
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Source: Aspen Institute
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This article brings together four well-respected rural
development practitioners to share their distinct
perspectives on how we can better define rural development
success. Shanna Ratner shares the wealth creation
framework as a way of achieving realignment, economic
inclusivity, and resilience at a regional scale. Ines
Polonius highlights the possibilities of
“Community-Centered Measurement,” which focuses on locally
defined progress, equity participation, unique place &
context, and relativity. Mark Gabriel Little notes the
importance of measuring increases in power — especially
shifts in political and financial power for BIPOC
communities. Anita Brown-Graham examines the health and
wealth of networks for improving educational achievement
and equitable development. All four sections emphasize
that there are no easy solutions for the many challenges
that rural American faces, but what is clear is that rural
communities themselves must drive change and transformation.
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Source: Aspen Institute
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The authors study impacts of a cash transfer program with
no means-test and no work restrictions: the US Department
of Veteran Affairs (VA) Disability Compensation program.
The authors’ empirical strategy leverages quasi-random
assignment of veterans claiming mental disorder disability
to examiners who vary in their assessing tendencies. The
authors find that an additional $1,000 per year in
transfers decreases food insecurity and homelessness by
4.1% and 1.3% over five years, while the number of
collections on VA debts declines by 6.4%. Despite facing
virtually no direct monetary costs, healthcare utilization
increases by 2.5% over the first five years, with greater
engagement in preventive care and improved medication
adherence. This demand response is in part explained by
the ability to overcome indirect costs of accessing care.
Additionally, VA-conducted surveys suggest that transfers
improve communication and trust between veterans and VA
clinicians, leading to greater overall satisfaction. Apart
from a reduction in self-reported pain, the authors found
no significant effects for the transfer on mental and
physical health, including depression, alcohol and
substance use disorders, body mass index, blood pressure,
and glucose levels.
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Source: National Bureau of Economic Research
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The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted every aspect
of health-care delivery in the United States. For example,
during the first two months of the pandemic there was a
dramatic decrease in preventative and elective care, which
impacted modalities ranging from imaging and procedures to
laboratory tests and vaccinations. The field of
ophthalmology was not immune to the impact of the
pandemic. Notably, one study using surgical claims
processed through Change Healthcare found that cataract
surgeries were initially reduced early in the 2020
pandemic year but then rebounded to 2019 volume by the end
of the year. The purpose of this study was to examine the
impact of the pandemic on cataract surgery rates among a
portion of the higher-risk population: Medicare
beneficiaries. We found no significant change in annual
rate of cataract surgery during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
year when correcting for the annual decline in enrollment
being observed in traditional Medicare due to increased
uptake of Medicare Advantage Plans. The rates of routine
and complex cataract surgery were not impacted by the
pandemic when examined in 12-month intervals. These
findings are consistent with another study of elective
surgical procedures in the US from a nationwide
health-care clearinghouse in which the rate of cataract
surgery declined precipitously during the initial seven
weeks of the pandemic but rebounded to 2019 rates by the
fall and winter of 2020.
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Source: Clinical ophthalmology
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OPPAGA is currently accepting applications for a part-time, academic year
Graduate Student Position.
OPPAGA is an ideal setting for gaining hands-on experience in policy analysis
and working on a wide range of issues of interest to the Florida Legislature.
OPPAGA provides an opportunity to work in a legislative policy research offices
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social scientists, accountants, MBA graduates, and others.
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Government Program Summaries (GPS) is a free resource for legislators and the public that provides descriptive information on over 200 state government programs. To provide fiscal data, GPS links to Transparency
Florida, the Legislature's website that includes continually updated information on the state's operating budget and daily expenditures by state agencies.
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A publication of the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability
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