Madeline Barch, Neil Bania - December 2016

The 2015 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of the state's ferry vessel procurement practices. This report presents the results of a benefit-cost analysis (BCA) and economic impact analysis (EIA) of a change in policy that shifts construction of ferries out of state. Neither analysis predicts a significant impact on Washington’s economy (either positively or negatively) from building ferries out of state.

RAND - November 2016

The 2015 Washington State Legislature asked WSIPP to contract with RAND to examine policy options for increasing the availability of primary care services in Washington.

These policy options include opening the new Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University in 2017; increasing the number of primary care residency positions in the state; expanding educational loan-repayment incentives to encourage primary care physicians to practice in rural Washington; increasing Medicaid payment rates for primary care physicians in rural Washington; and encouraging the adoption of alternative models of primary care, such as medical homes and nurse-managed health centers, that reallocate work from physicians to nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). RAND Corporation researchers projected the effects that these and other policy options could have on the state's rural primary care workforce through 2025. They project a 7% decrease in the number of rural primary care physicians and a 5% decrease in the number of urban ones. None of the policy options modeled in this report, on its own, will offset this expected decrease by relying on physicians alone. However, combinations of these strategies or partial reallocation of rural primary care services to NPs and PAs via such new practice models as medical homes and nurse-managed health centers are plausible options for preserving the overall availability of primary care services in rural Washington through 2025.

RAND's report is available below and can be accessed by clicking here.

Third Sector Intelligence - November 2016

The 2016 Washington State Legislature created the Education Funding Task Force to make recommendations to the legislature regarding the state’s program of basic education. To inform the Task Force’s work, WSIPP was directed to contract with an independent consultant to collect and analyze K-12 public school staff compensation data. The consultant’s final report examines the amount and uses of compensation paid in addition to basic education salary allocations, market rate salaries, and potential local labor market adjustments. The report is in PowerPoint format as submitted to the Task Force on November 15, 2016. The technical appendix provides additional detail on the data collection and analysis methods.

The consultant provided data files containing supplemental pay information submitted by school districts. The files are organized by staff type and can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant link below. The files have been consolidated, cleaned, and standardized from the original submissions. Employee names and certificate numbers have been removed and replaced by a unique research identification number. A description of the data collection process can be found in the report and technical appendix.

Marna Miller, Rebecca Goodvin, Joshua Grice, Chasya Hoagland, Eva Westley - September 2016

The 2013 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) to create, in consultation with the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), University of Washington Evidence-Based Practice Institute (EBPI), University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (ADAI), and the Washington Institute for Mental Health Research and Training (WIMHRT), an inventory of evidence-based, research-based, and promising practices.

The initial inventory of interventions and policies in adult mental health and chemical dependency services was published in May 2014. To view the May 2014 results, click here. An update to this inventory was published in January 2015.

While we were not directed by the legislature to update this inventory, a WSIPP Board-approved contract with the Division of Behavioral Health and Rehabilitation at the Department of Social and Health Services enabled WSIPP to review fourteen additional programs and update previously reviewed programs.

Third Sector Intelligence - September 2016

The 2016 Washington State Legislature created the Education Funding Task Force to make recommendations to the legislature regarding the state’s program of basic education. To inform the Task Force’s work, WSIPP was directed to contract with an independent consultant to collect and analyze K-12 public school staff compensation data. The analysis must examine the amount and uses of compensation paid in addition to basic education salary allocations, market rate salaries, and potential local labor market adjustment formulas. The consultant’s interim report describes the data collection process and analysis plans for the final report, due November 15, 2016.

Matt Lemon, Danielle Fumia, Lijian He - July 2016

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy's (WSIPP) Board of Directors approved a contract between WSIPP, the Department of Health, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to evaluate outcomes and conduct a benefit-cost analysis of the GRADS program.

GRADS is a K–12 program for pregnant and parenting teens that focuses on helping students take on the "dual role" of student and parent and prepare them for the world of work. In this evaluation, we compare teen mothers that participated in GRADS to a group of similar teen mothers from districts that did not offer the program.

Based on the results of our analysis, we estimate that GRADS participants have a 10.6 percentage point higher rate of high school graduation by age 22 and a 6.5 percentage point higher rate of postsecondary course enrollment by age 24.

Matt Lemon - July 2016

Washington State provides funding to school districts to help underachieving students through the Learning Assistance Program (LAP). The 2013 Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to prepare an inventory of evidence-based and research-based effective practices, activities, and programs for use by school districts in LAP and to update the inventory each two years thereafter. This report describes the third update to the inventory of evidence-based and research-based practices for use in LAP.

EBPI & WSIPP - June 2016

The 2012 Legislature passed E2SHB 2536 with the intention that “prevention and intervention services delivered to children and juveniles in the areas of mental health, child welfare, and juvenile justice be primarily evidence-based and research-based, and it is anticipated that such services will be provided in a manner that is culturally competent.”

The bill directs the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) and the University of Washington Evidence-Based Practice Institute (UW) to publish descriptive definitions and prepare an inventory of evidence-based, research-based, and promising practices and services, and to periodically update the inventory as more practices are identified. This is the sixth update to the September 30, 2012 publication. The accompanying report describes the inventory update process, as well as the ongoing technical assistance process by UW.

Annie Pennucci - January 2016

The 2015 Washington State Legislature reduced public resident undergraduate tuition in 2015 and limited future tuition increases to no more than the average annual percentage growth in Washington’s median hourly wage. The legislature also directed WSIPP to examine how this median hourly wage “growth factor” will affect tuition at the state’s public colleges and universities and to study alternative metrics for limiting tuition increases. This report describes alternative tuition growth factors including hourly wages, total income, and inflation indices. We also discuss a potential growth factor related to student affordability as directed in legislation.

This report was revised in April 2016 to correct community and technical college tuition data.

Marna Miller, Danielle Fumia, Lijian He - December 2015

Education and Employment Training (EET) is a program, currently operating exclusively in King County, for juvenile offenders at moderate- to high-risk to re-offend.

In 2010, EET was designated a “promising program” by the Community Juvenile Accountability Act oversight committee. At that time, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy agreed to evaluate the program when enough time had passed to measure the program’s effect on recidivism. This study compares recidivism rates for youth served by EET to that of similar juvenile offenders served by other court programs in Pierce and Snohomish Counties.