The Institute for Policy & Social Research is a faculty-driven research center supporting social scientists who focus on social problems and policy-relevant questions. IPSR fosters independent researchers and collaborative teams within our network of faculty affiliates and eight interdisciplinary research centers.
What's New
Book examines history of standardized tests, why they persist
For the past 50 years, standardized tests have been the norm in American schools, a method proponents say determines which schools are not performing and helps hold educators accountable. Yet for the past 20 years, it has become clear that testing has failed to improve education or hold many accountable, according to a University of Kansas researcher whose new book details its history. "An Age of Accountability: How Standardized Testing Came to Dominate American Schools and Compromise Education" by John Rury, professor emeritus of educational leadership & policy studies at KU, tells the story of how testing became a central focus of American education policy roughly from 1970 to 2020.
Link(s): https://news.ku.edu/2023/10/25/book-examines-history-standardized-tests-how-they-failed-american-schools-why-they
Kansas Economic Policy Conference to address urgent workforce needs
Each year, the Kansas Economic Policy Conference convenes community and industry leaders, policymakers and scholars. On Oct. 19, the conference will address workforce needs for Kansas.
Link(s): https://news.ku.edu/2023/10/16/kansas-economic-policy-conference-address-urgent-workforce-needs
State efforts to increase food stamp use are working
Moves by state governments to improve access to food stamps have been very effective in increasing the number of retirees and people with disabilities who get the benefits, according to new research from Donna K. Ginther and Michael Easterday.
Link(s): https://crr.bc.edu/state-efforts-to-increase-food-stamp-use-are-working/
https://www.nber.org/programs-projects/projects-and-centers/retirement-and-disability-research-center/center-papers/nb22-11
Please visit IPSR's News page for more.
Research Spotlight
Research Released on the Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid in Kansas
The REACH Healthcare Foundation provided funding to IPSR to study the impact of failure to expand Medicaid on Kansans. The research brief and report show that Kansans are spending more state resources on Medicaid, health care spending is increasing at a faster rate, and employee premiums for health care are increasing faster in Kansas than in states that expanded Medicaid. County mill levies for hospitals have also increased. There are many unexpected costs resulting from the state’s failure to expand Medicaid.
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The 57th Edition of the Kansas Statistical Abstract is now available! The abstract is available EXCLUSIVELY online as a PDF file with individual pages available in Microsoft Excel and PDF. For more information and access to the data, please visit https://ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/. The Kansas Statistical Abstract was featured in a radio spot on the Jayhawk Radio Network, tune in or click the button below to play the clip now:  |
2023 Kansas Economic Policy Conference
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Please check the conference site soon for recordings from the conference. Recent Publications
Ginther, Donna K., Davut Ayan, and David J.G. Slusky, The Unexpected Costs of Not Expanding Medicaid in Kansas, sponsored by the REACH Foundation, May 2022.Ayan, Davut, Donna K. Ginther, and David J.G. Slusky, Economic Costs to Kansas Due to State’s Failure to Expand Medicaid, sponsored by the REACH Foundation, May 2022.
The Governor's Council on Tax Reform, Final Report, January 2022.
Ginther, Donna K., Genna Hurd, Xan Wedel, Thomas Becker, and Patricia Oslund, The Status of Women in Kansas, sponsored by United WE, January 2022.
Ginther, Donna K, Nancy Cayton Myers, Thomas Becker, Lindsay Elliot Jorgenson, "Growing New Ventures and Jobs in Kansas: An in-depth Review of Entrepreneurship Activities and Policies in Kansas and How We Compare." Institute for Policy & Social Research, The University of Kansas (January 2020).
Maynard-Moody, Steven with Charles Epp and Donald Haider-Markel,“Beyond Profiling: The Institutional Sources of Racial Disparities in Policing,” Public Administration Review (forthcoming).
Maynard-Moody, Steven, “Punishing the Poor.” Book review essay, Social Service Review, vol. 90, no. 4 (Dec 2016).
Maynard-Moody, Steven with Michael Musheno, “'Playing the Rules’: Discretion Social and Policy Context”. In Peter Hupe, Michael Hill, and Aurélien Buffat, eds., Understanding Street-Level Bureaucrats (Bristol, UK: The Policy Press, 2016).
For other publications please visit our Publications Page.
Links on this page:
- ipsr@ku.edu