Thomas Sykes, Edie Harding - January 1995

The Washington Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to determine the feasibility of doing a longitudinal study of educational outcomes for students in special education. A longitudinal study allows the tracking of a population over some period of time in order to document changes in that population. This report summarizes what is already known about student outcomes for special education and suggests possible ways to learn more about special education programs.

WSIPP - January 1995

The Family Income Study's December 1993 issue brief, At What Hourly Wage Are Women Able to Leave and Stay Off Welfare? found a "threshold" wage of $6.50 per hour enabled many women to leave and stay off welfare for at least 36 months during the 1988-1992 Study period.

This paper updates that analysis and reports the 1994 equivalent "threshold" wage using two different methods: 1. Wages earned during the Study period were adjusted for inflation, using the Consumer Price Index. 2. Wages earned during the Study period were increased by the amount that would offset the increase in value, from 1988 to 1994, of the welfare package (Aid for Families With Dependent Children [AFDC] and Food Stamps).

Carol Webster, Greg Weeks - January 1995

This report provides the results from 20 teenage pregnancy prevention program evaluations. The programs are divided into two main categories: (1) Those intended to prevent a first pregnancy, and (2) Those intended to prevent subsequent pregnancies.

Pat Brown, Eugene Edgar, Carmen Hadreas, Bridget Kelly - December 1994

At legislative direction in the 1994 Supplemental Appropriations Act, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy is assessing the feasibility of doing a longitudinal study of educational outcomes for students in special education. A longitudinal study allows the tracking of a population over some period of time in order to document changes in that population. Conducting such a study in the field of K-12 education will be complicated and costly. In Washington State, we have had only limited experience with this approach. This report provides a summary of what is known from the research literature on outcomes for special education students who graduate from high school in the U.S. and in Washington State.

Susan Mielke - December 1994

This reviews examines the federal legislation established to provide federal financial assistance programs to assist states in educating children with disabilities. Federal law requires the state to assure that school districts evaluate each identified child to determine eligibility for special education, provide appropriate special education services to children with disabilities, establish due process procedures to help parents and students get the appropriate special education services, and perform some administrative functions for special education programs. The main differences between federal and state requirements are that the state defines specific eligibility criteria for each disability category and requires the evaluation to identify a child's disability within one of the disability categories. The state constitution, as interpreted by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1978, requires the state to define and fully fund basic education. Through legislative definition, special education is part of the state's basic education responsibility.

Susan Mielke - December 1994

This review presents the historical development of federal legislation that addresses the education of children with disabilities. Additionally, it presents the federal requirements the state must meet when delivering and funding special education programs under the federal constitution, current federal statutes, regulations and selected court cases.

Susan Mielke - December 1994

This review examines the requirements the state must meet for the delivery and the funding of special education under the state law governing the education of children with disabilities.

WSIPP - December 1994

The Family Income Study is a five-year longitudinal study of Washington households. We compared the characteristics of women who received welfare (Aid to Families with Dependent Children - AFDC) with women who were considered to be "working poor."1 All respondents had at least one child. We used characteristics of women respondents in the first year of the study for comparison. There were significant differences during the women's youth and in their current characteristics.

Greg Weeks, Carol Webster - December 1994

There are two schools of thought about the requirements of a successful welfare-towork program: One believes women on welfare should be encouraged to work, even at low-paying jobs, because steady work experience is a rung on a “wage ladder” that leads to jobs at higher wages. The other believes women on welfare should be encouraged to enroll in education and training to improve their skills and only take jobs with higher wages, because low-paying jobs are a dead end.

Previously, the Family Income Study found that both education/training and work experience affect the possibility of a woman leaving and staying off welfare. In this paper, we address the effects of work experience. We examined the hourly wages of women in the AFDC sample, who worked at least three months in any year during the five-year study period (1988-1992), to see if it was possible to “climb a wage ladder.”

Todd Donovan, Heather Smith - December 1994

Several members of Washington's House of Representatives asked the Institute to summarize the research on the role single member districts and other electoral arrangements may play in local government in increasing both voter turnout and representation for minority groups. This report reviews the literature on alternative, proportional representation arrangements in local elections in the United States, comparing their impact with that of single member and at-large districts.