CLOSUP Research Projects
The core of CLOSUP's mission is its research component. Its major programs consist of conducting research projects run by CLOSUP, as well as supporting (financially, administratively and operationally) collaborative research projects directed by other members of the University of Michigan faculty under the CLOSUP Policy Research Grants Program (for information on those awards, see the PRG prior awards page). Each project is organized around a set of problems or issues that confront state and/or local policy makers. The purpose of the projects, whether run by CLOSUP or sponsored by CLOSUP, is to bring the academic resources of the University to bear on today's pressing local, state, and urban policy problems.
CLOSUP Research Projects
- The Michigan Public Policy Survey: In the spring of 2009 CLOSUP launched a new survey research program focused on local government officials throughout the state of Michigan, designed to track fundamental policy issues over time and to delve deeply into important topical issues. More information.
- The Impact of the Michigan Merit Curriculum and Michigan Promise Scholarship on Student Outcomes: A 5-year evaluation project in partnership with Professor Susan Dynarski at UM, Professor Barbara Schneider and colleagues at Michigan State University, and with the Michigan Department of Education. Funded by a $5.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences. More information.
- The CLOSUP Education Policy Initiative: In the Fall of 2007 CLOSUP launched the Education Policy Initiative (EPI), a program of coordinated activities designed to bring the latest academic knowledge to issues of education policy. Through a combination of research projects, events, and publications, EPI seeks to identify and evaluate promising educational interventions and to inform educators and policymakers about new research findings. More information.
Other Research Projects
As noted above, CLOSUP sponsors work by other researchers at the University of Michigan on a wide range of issues relevant to state and local policy. On some of these projects CLOSUP is an active partner; on others CLOSUP plays a less direct role beyond providing financial support. Abstracts of all such CLOSUP-affiliated projects are available here.
Recently CLOSUP has fostered and helped launch collaborative projects with George Fulton, Barry Rabe, and Meredith Fowlie, as described in the links below:
- Seeking Michigan's Economic Transformation: Lessons from Pittsburgh and Beyond. George Fulton
- Public Opinion Amid Science and Policy Controversy: The 2010 National Survey of Public Opinion on Climate Change and the Case of Michigan. Barry Rabe and Christopher Borick
- Reducing Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Energy-Efficiency Retrofits: Evidence from Low-Income Households. Meredith Fowlie.
Past CLOSUP-run Research Projects
- A Program Evaluation of Operation ABC
- Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness
- Fiscal Capacity of Local Governments
- Regional Governance
- CLOSUP Growth Management Survey
- Local Government Accountability
- Michigan at the Millennium
CLOSUP-sponsored Research Projects
See abstracts of CLOSUP-sponsored projects funded through the CLOSUP Policy Research Grant program
