IPR - Institute for Policy Research - Northwestern University

Highlights
< Supporting Undergraduate Policy Initiatives
IPR continues its support of policy-related initiatives
by Northwestern undergraduates. The Institute
supported the launch of the Northwestern chapter of
the Roosevelt Institution. College students from around
the Midwest attended its first workshop on May 24 to
listen to keynote speaker Quentin Young, executive
director of Physicians for a National Health Program.
The Roosevelt Institution is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
national network of student think tanks.
IPR also continued its ongoing commitment to
the Undergraduate Lecture Series on Race, Poverty,
and Inequality, part of Northwestern’s Community
Development Corps. Over the year, students organized
three series on immigration,
public education, and hunger
disparities. The keynote speaker for
the series on education was Paul
Vallas, superintendent of New
Orleans public school district,
on March 3. Participating IPR
faculty included education and
social policy professor Dan A.
Lewis, who spoke about closing
Paul Vallas talks about efforts to reform
New Orleans’ school system.
the achievement gap in Chicago’s
schools on March 5, and political
scientist Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, who talked about
immigration issues on May 14.
< IPR Houses Three Journal Editors
In 2008, three IPR faculty fellows were lead editors of
one well-established and two recently founded journals.
Political scientist James Druckman became co-editor of
Public Opinion Quarterly (POQ) in the fall. POQ is one
of the leading journals in the fields of communication
and political science. Overseen by the American
Association of Public Opinion Research, the journal
publishes research on opinion and communication
theories, polls, and survey methodology and validity.
Statistician and education researcher Larry Hedges
and social psychologist Thomas D. Cook worked on
the launch of the Journal of Research on Educational
Effectiveness (JREE), which published its first issue
in January 2008. Hedges currently serves as its coeditor.
As the flagship publication for the Society for
Research on Educational Effectiveness, JREE publishes
multidisciplinary articles on studies of interventions,
evaluations, and methodology in education.
Education economist David Figlio helped launch and
now edits Education Finance and Policy (EFP), now
in its third year. A joint venture between the American
Education
Finance Association
and MIT Press,
past issues of the
quarterly EFP have
dealt with higher
education finance,
the fiscal burden
of school accountability,
and charter
school effectiveness,
among other topics.
< IPR Faculty in the Media
In 2008, several IPR faculty had their research featured
in media outlets. Economist Charles F. Manski’s
critique of prediction markets figured prominently in
a February 4 Scientific American article. Sociologist
Monica Prasad’s editorial on how to implement an
effective carbon tax that will actually reduce emissions
was published by the New York Times on March 25.
Psychologist Alice Eagly’s work on women leaders was
cited in a Newsweek editorial on October 13, and she
was also quoted in an April 6 New York Times column
on racism and gender categorization. Political scientist
Victoria DeFrancesco Soto made several televised
appearances during the fall 2008 presidential campaign,
appearing on CNN en Español to comment on election
returns and on the Big Ten Network to discuss results
of the first Big Ten Poll. Economist Burton Weisbrod’s
November 17 IPR talk about his book Mission and
Money: Understanding the University was broadcast on
C-Span’s Book TV. Education economist David Figlio
was quoted several times, including in an August 20
Wall Street Journal article on grading policies.
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