Teaching

The Classroom and the Community: PP632 Policy Analysis Practicum

Professor Brian Jacob teaches the Ford School course known as the Policy Analysis Practicum, in which student teams work on applied policy projects for public sector and non-profit organizations. The goal of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to get their “hands dirty” with actual policy work, both as a way to utilize some of the skills they have learned in their other courses as well as to help them learn about many of the political and practical issues involved in “doing” real policy. In this course, students work with a “client” agency or organization in the education and other sectors to carry out a policy-related research and/or analysis project. Students usually work in groups of 2-5 students on projects determined by their individual interest and expertise. The projects range from statistical evaluations (e.g., evaluating the effectiveness of a particular educational intervention, or conducting a cost-benefit analysis of a local government service) to political analyses (e.g., writing a set of case studies focusing on how other states have managed to fund and implement early childhood education programs in order to provide guidance to a client considering this type of program).

For academic year 2007-2008, student teams worked on projects to analyze teacher labor shortages for the Michigan Department of Education, transportation consolidation options for local school districts in Washtenaw County, Michigan, and Washtenaw Success by Six, a public-private collaborative project to ensure all children are prepared for success in school when they enter kindergarten.

Examples of final reports are provided in the right panel of this page.

Examples of Final Project Reports:

• Teacher Quality and Turnover in Michigan (Academic Year 2006-2007)
• Understanding Developmental Delay Referrals in Washtenaw County (AY 2007-2008)
• WISD Special Education Transportation Cost Reduction Analysis (AY 2007-2008)