Evaluating welfare reform : a framework and review of current work : interim report / Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in Social Welfare Programs ; Robert A. Moffitt and Michele Ver Ploeg, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Moffitt, Robert A.

Ver Ploeg, Michele.

National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in Social Welfare Programs.

Series:

Compass series (Washington, D.C.)

Compass series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--United States--Evaluation.

Public welfare.

Public welfare administration--United States--Evaluation.

Public welfare administration.

Social surveys--United States--Evaluation.

Social surveys.

Physical Description:

viii, 151 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, c1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 fundamentally changed the nation's social welfare system, replacing a federal entitlement program for low-income families, called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), with state-administered block grants, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. PRWORA furthered a trend started earlier in the decade under so called "waiver" programs-state experiments with different types of AFDC rules-toward devolution of design and control of social welfare programs from the federal government to the states. The legislation imposed several new, major requirements on state use of federal welfare funds but otherwise freed states to reconfigure their programs as they want. The underlying goal of the legislation is to decrease dependence on welfare and increase the self-sufficiency of poor families in the United States. In summer 1998, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) asked the Committee on National Statistics of the National Research Council to convene a Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in Social Welfare Programs. The panel's overall charge is to study and make recommendations on the best strategies for evaluating the effects of PRWORA and other welfare reforms and to make recommendations on data needs for conducting useful evaluations. This interim report presents the panel's initial conclusions and recommendations. Given the short length of time the panel has been in existence, this report necessarily treats many issues in much less depth than they will be treated in the final report. The report has an immediate short-run goal of providing DHHS-ASPE with recommendations regarding some of its current projects, particularly those recently funded to study "welfare leavers"-former welfare recipients who have left the welfare rolls as part of the recent decline in welfare caseloads.

Contents:

Evaluating Welfare Reform

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Contents

Executive Summary

INITIAL CONCLUSIONS

SHORT-RUN RECOMMENDATIONS

Identifying Key Policy Concerns

Defining Key Populations

Capacity-Building and Cross-State Comparability

Documenting State Policies

ASPE Leaver Study Grants

1 Introduction

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

INITIAL WORK OF THE PANEL

2 Framework, Principles, and Designs for Evaluation

RESEARCH AND POLICY QUESTIONS AND STUDY OBJECTIVES

Evaluation Studies

Monitoring and Descriptive Studies

STUDY POPULATIONS OF INTEREST

Studies of Recipients: Caseload Dynamics

Implications

OUTCOMES AND TIME FRAMES

STUDY METHODOLOGIES

Randomized Trials

Nonexperimental Studies

Pure Before-and-After Designs

Pure Cross-Section Designs

Combination of Cross-Sectional and Before-and-After Designs

Cohort and Repeated Cross-Section Designs

ESTIMATING THE EFFECT OF REFORM COMPONENTS

DATA SOURCES

Administrative Data

Survey Data

Linking Administrative and Survey Data

Data Providing Descriptions of Programs

PROCESS EVALUATIONS

CONCLUSIONS

3 ASPE Leaver Studies and Other Current Research on Welfare Reform

ASPE-FUNDED LEAVER STUDIES

Outcomes

Study Populations

Study Methods: Definition of Cohorts and Comparison Groups

Data Sources

RESEARCH ISSUES FOR THE ASPE LEAVER STUDIES

Cross-Study Comparability

Monitoring Versus Evaluation

TANF Entry Rates

Data Collection and Availability

OTHER WELFARE LEAVER STUDIES

OTHER MAJOR WELFARE REFORM PROJECTS

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

Administration for Children and Families

Survey of Program Dynamics

Urban Institute: Assessing the New Federalism Project

Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation: Project on Devolution and Urban Change.

Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study

Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study

Other Studies

Assessment

4 Recommendations

BROAD ROLE FOR THE DEPARTMENT

Capacity Building

Cross-Area Comparability

ASPE LEAVER STUDY GRANTS

References

Appendices

APPENDIX A Leaver Studies

APPENDIX B Summary of Welfare Reform Projects

APPENDIX C Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff.

Notes:

"Committee on National Statistics, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-92).

ISBN:

0-309-18411-8

1-280-18567-8

9786610185672

0-309-59379-4

0-585-17194-7

OCLC:

923263138