Research, sometimes defined as the search for new
knowledge, is a cornerstone of the modern university. To
faculty scholars, adding to the knowledge base is an end in
itself; but outside the academy, the question is often
asked, "What difference does it make?"
This question was the central focus of a recent
symposium hosted by the Johns Hopkins
Institute for Policy Studies. Ideas in Action: How
Policy Research Affects the Real World paired seven
senior IPS faculty with outside "respondents" from the
public, private and nonprofit sectors to survey what's been
learned through public policy research, what difference
it's made and what the key questions are that are driving
new research on pressing domestic policy challenges.
The symposium covered a diverse array of topics,
reflecting IPS faculty interests: strategies and programs
to reconnect "disconnected" youth and reintegrate young
offenders into their communities; whether work force
development programs are effective and why; the impact of
welfare reform on fathers and working families; how housing
affects children, the poor and other vulnerable
populations; the role of nonprofits in strengthening
society; and how to harness technological innovation for
economic development.
The common thread running through this work, said IPS
Director Sandra Newman, is a dual concern for the theory
and the practice of policy. "As researchers, we adhere to
scientific principles of research, but we also focus on
real-world problems. And we combine our rigorous research
with an understanding of — how you design policy, how
you implement it and an understanding of the funding
mechanisms and the instruments by which you get policy
accomplished," Newman said.
Unlike traditional academic symposia, the program
unfolded as a series of conversations between the faculty
presenters, their respondents and members of the audience,
which included representatives from city and state
government, foundations and nonprofits as well as other
social policy scholars.
The respondents included Lorenzo Harrison,
administrator of youth services for the U.S. Department of
Labor; Mary Ann Saar, Maryland secretary for public safety
and correctional services; Beth Buehlman, executive
director of the Center for Workforce Preparation at the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Wendell Primus, Democratic staff
director for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S.
Congress; Barry Zigas, senior vice president of the
National Community Lending Center at Fannie Mae; Barbara
Finberg, the past chair of Independent Sector; and Phillip
Singerman, executive director of the Maryland Technology
Development Corporation.
By commenting on the quality and relevance of the
faculty's research, the respondents served as a "reality
check" for the audience, Newman said.
Respondents cited numerous examples in which IPS
researchers have contributed to meaningful changes in
policy formulation and action. Saar noted that Maryland has
begun adopting elements of David Altschuler's model for
managing incarcerated youth, a model that emphasizes early
prerelease planning, accurate risk and needs assessment of
offenders and their families, and continuity of
interventional and supportive services between the
correctional institution and the community to reduce the
odds of recidivism for offenders after release.
"We have learned, as David told you, that intensive
supervision alone doesn't work," Saar said. Among other
things, her department has created a new position, the
"transition coordinator," to help guide the development and
implementation of a release plan for all offenders "from
the moment they are assessed and classified in the
correctional facility."
Singerman credited Marsha Schachtel's work, in
particular her Maryland Innovation and Technology Index and
Maryland Technology Genealogy, with providing the impetus
for a series of policy recommendations and activities
designed to stimulate entrepreneurship and tap the economic
potential of the state's substantial research and
development sector.
The Index, Singerman said, revealed that in terms of
research and development as a proportion of the state's
total economy, Maryland actually exceeds Massachusetts, a
state generally considered to be a benchmark for high-tech
economic activity. "It is to Marsha's credit that her
studies have for the first time quantified and illustrated
this in a very detailed fashion, and it is now widely
recognized and remarked upon by public officials in the
state," Singerman said.
An audio file and transcript of the symposium will be
available later this year on the IPS Web site,
www.jhu.edu/ips.
The symposium was the capstone to a two-day program
that led off with a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Robert Caro, who delivered the George Huntington
Williams Memorial Lecture at Shriver Hall. The lecture,
"Power and Politics," was co-sponsored by IPS and the
Office of the President.
The symposium luncheon speaker was journalist Hedrick
Smith, also a Pulitzer Prize winner, who spoke about the
role of the media in bringing attention to and, to a lesser
extent, shaping discussion of social policy. Smith, a
former correspondent for The New York Times and author of
several books on American politics and policy, is executive
producer for a series of award-winning PBS documentaries
and miniseries on domestic policy issues.
In his opening remarks at the symposium, university
President William R. Brody praised IPS for its commitment
to rigorous research and graduate education. "Whether
you're dealing with housing, health, family well-being, the
incarcerated, the at-risk, the welfare system, work force
development, neighborhood revitalization Š all of these
issues are very challenging and complex, and in order to
get traction on them, one has to have good data. One has to
understand what works and what doesn't work, because you
can't drive change, in my view, without data," Brody
said.
"I think that is half the equation. The other half is
that you have to train people to Š transfer that
intellectual know-how about how to study these programs and
how to create a compelling case for change and how to
collect the data that allows us to monitor change and drive
change. The Institute for Policy Studies has a very highly
regarded graduate program that does just that," he said.
"Without a group like the Institute for Policy Studies,
Johns Hopkins would be much more of an ivory tower."
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