David Lovell, Jim Mayfield - March 2007

In 1999, legislation was passed to better identify and provide additional mental health treatment for mentally ill offenders who were released from prison, who pose a threat to public safety, and agree to participate in the program. A “Dangerous Mentally Ill Offender” (DMIO) is defined by the legislation as a person with a mental disorder who has been determined to be dangerous to self or others.

As part of its legislative mandate, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy has published a series of reports that evaluate the DMIO program. A 2005 report demonstrated that the DMIO program significantly reduced recidivism after 1 1/2 years, and the 2007 follow-up report found that reductions in recidivism were sustained at the 2 1/2 year mark. The benefit-cost analysis in that report indicated that the reductions in DMIO recidivism generated financial benefits to taxpayers that were more than program costs.

This report examines how DMIO program funds are being used, how services and billings are tracked, changes in mental health funding, interagency collaboration, and how these impact program viability.

Steve Aos, Marna Miller, Jim Mayfield - March 2007

The Washington Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to begin conducting economic analyses of certain K–12 policies. Augmenting the work of the recent Washington Learns process, this report describes our initial cost-benefit findings for class size reductions and full-day vs. half-day kindergarten. Upcoming reports will examine other K–12 topics.

Robert Barnoski, Wade Cole - March 2007

This report tracks 4th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade WASL performance over time and by recent cohorts of students.

Wei Yen - March 2007

In this report, we discuss existing measures of long-term and cycling use in public mental health services. We then propose new definitions that are relevant to the public mental health system in Washington State. Finally, we apply these new definitions to the state’s public mental health clients in 2002 to obtain counts of long-term users and cycling users.

Wei Yen - March 2007

In 2001, the Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to conduct a longitudinal study of long-term outcomes for clients of the state’s public mental health system. The Legislature requested follow-up reports at two-, five-, and ten-year intervals.

This report documents changes in the study cohort from 2002 to 2005. It describes client retention rates and changes in clients’ mental health conditions, mental health service utilization, employment and wages, criminal justice involvement, and demographics.

Robert Barnoski, Wade Cole - February 2007

This report describes how student characteristics are individually associated with performance on the reading, writing, and math assessments of the 10th-grade WASL in spring 2006, and identifies groups of students with the lowest and highest met-standard rates.

Annie Pennucci - February 2007

This report reviews the three alternative assessment options authorized in Washington state and considers four additional alternatives.

Robert Barnoski, Wade Cole - February 2007

As part of this mandate, the Institute was instructed to identify possible barriers to student success on the WASL, one of which is non-completion of all three subject-area assessments.

This report identifies the characteristics of students in the class of 2008 who are slated to take the WASL but have not yet completed all three subject areas: reading, writing, and math.

Robert Barnoski - February 2007

The 2006 Washington State Legislature created the Promoting Academic Success (PAS) program to provide remediation for 10th-grade students who do not meet standard in one or more content areas of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

The Legislature also directed the Institute to evaluate the effectiveness of remedial programs funded through PAS. This report describes the results of the survey administered to the summer 2006 PAS instructors about their instruction. The survey was conducted to obtain data describing the different remedial strategies offered in the classes. A subsequent report will analyze the relationship between the survey data and WASL retest results.

Mason Burley - January 2007

In recent years, the manufacture and production of methamphetamine in small homemade labs has declined significantly. Changes at both the state and federal level have restricted the supply and availability of pseudoephedrine, a major precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Demand for methamphetamine, however, remains high. According to law enforcement officials, much of the methamphetamine available today is supplied by drug trafficking organizations from Mexico. As manufacturing of methamphetamine declines, trafficking and distribution is becoming a regional issue that states and the federal government must address cooperatively.

The 2006 Washington State Legislature asked the Institute to examine "criminal sentencing increases necessary under Washington law to reduce or remove any incentives methamphetamine traffickers and manufacturers may have to locate in Washington." This report looks at differences in sentencing laws for methamphetamine possession, manufacture, and distribution in Washington and neighboring states. The report provides opinions from experts in steps Washington may take to curb the availability and use of methamphetamine.