Robin Jacob is a Research Professor at the Survey Research Center at Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and a faculty Co-Director of the Youth Policy Lab. She has 15 years of experience conducting randomized trials and…
A new brief from the Ford School's Education Policy Initiative and Youth Policy Lab shows the impact of federally funded education research. The policy-relevant research is developed in partnership with local and state agencies, practitioners, and...
The pilot of a Michigan program created to help improve health outcomes for pregnant parents and their children shows positive impacts on families, including food and financial security and housing stability, according to a new report from the...
The share of 8th-12th grade students reporting depression and anxiety symptoms fell below pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23 in the Detroit Public School Community District—which is the opposite of national trends.The most substantial improvements were...
Offering small cash incentives can significantly increase participation in a Medicaid home visiting program for pregnant people, infants and their families, according to a study by the Youth Policy Lab at University of Michigan.U-M researchers...
When Chaelee Farquarson learned about the Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE), she applied out of curiosity. As a rising senior studying psychology at Spelman College, much of her research was theoretical.“I was drawn...
Home visiting programs are effective in promoting healthy pregnancies, birth outcomes and infant growth and development—and new University of Michigan research offers ways to increase participation among eligible families.Michigan's Maternal and...
Summer 2024 brings another exceptional cohort of undergraduate students from Spelman College and Morehouse College to the University of Michigan’s Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE). Launched in 2023, the eight-week...
Summer 2023 proved to be eventful and rewarding for the inaugural Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE) cohort. The program, a collaboration between the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Spelman College, provided...
This summer, four outstanding undergraduate students from Spelman College will participate in the University of Michigan’s Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE)—a seven-week summer program run by the Youth Policy Lab...
Sixth graders at Polly Ryon Middle School in Richmond, Tex., clamored to get into a certain math class at the beginning of the last school year. That’s not because they’d heard rumors that the class was easy or that they’d get to watch a lot of...
Schools are a promising setting for mental health services – they meet students where they are, surrounded by adults that they trust. Yet more research is needed to determine the most effective way to deliver those services within schools. In a...
Social and emotional learning has become very important for schools as students adjust to the many changes they have had to endure during the pandemic. According to Robin Jacob, co-director of the Youth Policy Lab, Detroit students were experiencing...
Over a five-year period, Reading Partners and third-party education program evaluator, MDRC, will receive $8 million in Education Innovation and Research (EIR) funding through the U.S. Department of Education in order to expand Reading Partners’...
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, serious mental health concerns impacted a significant portion of students in Detroit public schools, a new report shows.More than half of student respondents in the Detroit Public Schools Community District had...
Academic and non-academic barriers are preventing Detroit high school students from enrolling and succeeding in college. Detroit Students’ College Pathways and Outcomes, a policy brief released by the Youth Policy Lab (YPL) at the University of...
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the University of Michigan Youth Policy Lab have been awarded a grant by Arnold Ventures to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation of Michigan’s Maternal Infant Health Program, the...
Robin Jacob on closing early childhood achievement gaps
The first five years of a child’s life are considered the most critical for development. But for too many children from low-income households, learning opportunities in those...
Detroit public school students will soon have access to new services to help them effectively manage symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, under a partnership with a University of Michigan program.TRAILS — Transforming Research...
The Detroit Public Schools Community District received $5 million in grants and additional funds to augment behavioral and mental health services throughout the district earlier this month.The Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network awarded the...
A story on the NPR website, “The Science of Getting Kids Organized,” looks at coaching students to build executive function—categories of skills the brain uses for general organization and judgment. Robin Jacob, who published an overview of studies...
Professor Tepper Jacob's talk will tell the story of an on-going evaluation of the Reading Partners program, a successful one-on-one volunteer tutoring program that serves struggling readers in elementary schools serving students from families with low-income
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Betty Ford Classroom (Room 1110)
A panel discussion around approaches for reducing infant mortality in Michigan. Panelists include Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Director and Health Officer of the Detroit Health Department, Lynette Biery, Director of the Bureau of Family Services at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Jaye Clement, Director of Community Health Programs & Strategies at the Henry Ford Health System.
Robin Jacob and A. Foster will discuss how the partnership has developed since initially proposed by WCJC, the challenges involved in beginning such work, and other lessons learned after more than 8 months of partnership.
Preschool through third grade (P–3) alignment is regularly named as a key aspect of early childhood education and the transition to formal schooling. However, little is known about P–3 alignment in practice. Using data from 265 observations of math...
With funding provided through Governor Whitmer’s Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies initiative, YPL evaluates the effectiveness of a pilot program to allow MIHP provider agencies to bill for additional services and care coordination for families with high...
We explore whether enhanced outreach to a randomly selected subset of individuals referred to Michigan’s Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP) can increase enrollment in the home visiting...
Since 2013, the TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students) program has delivered training, resources, and implementation support to schools and districts to provide evidence-based mental health programing for...
The DPSCD School Mental Health Needs Assessment was conducted with two overarching aims: 1) to more fully understand student mental health and related factors within the DPSCD community; and 2) to inform professional development (PD) opportunities...
Many children who are eligible for early intervention services do not receive them. In this literature review we explore issues for health care providers, child care providers, and parents during the identification, referral, or uptake process that...
