SRI Authors Elisa Garcia, Sarah Nixon Gerard, Claire Christensen, Tejaswini Tiruke, Carolina Zamora, Todd A. Grindal Abstract Mobile messaging programs are a low-cost, scalable approach to building parents’ knowledge and capacity to support their children’s development. These programs directly deliver simple and straightforward information, tips, and activities that parents can incorporate into daily routines. Yet […]
Tejaswini Tiruke
SRI Author
Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) Final Evaluation Report
The Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) was designed to provide 4-year-old children from low-income families with access to high-quality prekindergarten programs. The Virginia Department of Education contracted with SRI International to evaluate the implementation and impacts of the VPI+ program. SRI researchers found that attending VPI+ had a positive impact on children’s academic and behavioral skills, with the largest impact on literacy skills. In the year between enrolling in VPI+ and beginning kindergarten, participating children developed more than 15 months of mathematics skills and more than 20 months of literacy skills within a 12-month time frame. To learn more about the implementation and impacts of the VPI+ program, please see the full report.
Student Outcomes in Health Pathways
This brief presents findings from the Oakland Health Pathways Project (OHPP), a joint initiative of Oakland Unified School District, Alameda Health System, and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The initiative is designed to improve educational and long-term employment outcomes for youth of color in Oakland (Alameda County), California, while expanding and diversifying the local health care workforce. It applies Linked Learning, an approach to college and career preparation that combines classroom learning with real-world work experiences. This brief compares health pathway students’ outcomes with those of students who had similar demographic characteristics and prior achievement but were in two other programs of study: 1) traditional high school programs, and 2) other career-themed pathways. The study found health pathway students significantly outperformed traditional high school students on the high school course credits earned, high school graduation, college eligibility requirements met, and college enrollment. There were no differences in health pathway student outcomes in high school English Language Arts and math achievement, and dropout rates when compared to students in traditional high school programs and other career-themed pathways. In addition, health pathway students were no different in completion of college eligibility requirements and, among those who enrolled in college, were no more likely to enroll in a 4-year (rather than 2-year) college when compared to students in traditional high school programs and in other career-themed pathways.
