Social Policy Research Associates

✨ Warm Holiday Wishes from all of us at Social Policy Research Associates! As the year comes to a close, we want to thank our incredible partners, colleagues, and friends for their collaboration and support throughout 2024. This holiday season, we reflect on the connections that bring us together and look ahead to the opportunities awaiting in the new year. Wishing you a joyful, restful holiday season and a bright start to 2025! Here’s to continued growth, gratitude, and community. 🌟 #HappyHolidays #Gratitude #NewYear

The $50 million Learning Acceleration System Grant administered by California Collaborative for Educational Excellence funds the development of a California education network to advance student progress through evidence-based professional learning for educators. Explore learnings from our evaluation conducted in partnership with Education Northwest here: https://lnkd.in/dPTkq6VW

SPR’s Heather Lewis Charp and Nikkolette Hunter partnered with Envision Learning Partners (ELP) to create in-depth case studies of secondary schools with positive outcomes for Black and Latine students who have learning disabilities and/or who are English learners. Early next year, ELP will release the case study that describes inclusion-focused practices, such as team teaching, competency-based assessment, project-based learning, and the creation of a flexible student-centered learning environment.

Building connections across the #workforce and #education systems is one of our favorite things to do at SPR. Today, Associate Leah Cadena-Igdalsky participated in the second steering committee for the Bay Area K-16 Collaborative, joining colleagues from K-12, community college, CSU, and industry partners. SPR is thrilled to support the intersegmental partnerships being built through this Collaborative in its role as backbone organization.

Day two of the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management conference is underway in National Harbor, Maryland. Christian Geckeler and Marian Negoita are enjoying this year's theme, Policymaking at the Federal, State, and Local Levels. Say hi if you see them! #2024APPAM

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to recognize the culture and traditions of Indigenous communities. SPR joins in acknowledging Ohlone land and culture with other Oakland businesses such as Fairyland, who changed their sign to Ohloneland. We honor the relationship that exists between the Ohlone people, past and present, and their ancestral lands.

Earlier this week, Nikkolette Hunter and Heather Lewis Charp attended #Aurora2024, a conference focused on competency-based and personalized learning. They presented with school leaders, former students, and Envision Learning Partners on how to create more effective learning environments for Black and LatinX students with learning differences. We are proud of our team members' work!

🎉 Join us in welcoming Joey Hunziker, MPA to the SPR team! 🎉 Joey is a Senior Associate with the Workforce and Human Services Technical Assistance Team. Joey comes to the organization with experience in teaching, training, facilitating, managing complex projects, and providing technical assistance and support to school and community leaders, policymakers, and coalition partners. As a Senior Associate, his work focuses on supporting clients working to improve the lives of disabled youth and adults by improving programs and strengthening systems to better support career and college transitions. Joey spent the last 5 years working on disability policy and programs while he was at the National Center for Learning Disabilities and worked on capacity building and large scale policy change efforts at the Council of Chief State School Officers. Joey is a knitter, a potter, a sometimes learner of languages that he can use while traveling, and recently relocated back to the Pacific Northwest with his feisty pup Sophie after a decade in Washington, DC.

Yesterday, SPR’s Kristina Palmer and Taylor Redmond attended the Annual East Bay College Agile Network (EBCAN) Convening. SPR is proud to provide technical assistance and evaluation services for EBCAN, a partnership between California State University - East Bay and the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District that increases student-focused equity pathways for transfer students. The RP Group provided an insightful presentation on identifying and overcoming barriers to student transfer. We are feeling energized by EBCAN’s continued work!

🔔 Webinar alert! 🔔 Don't miss SPR's Leah Cadena-Igdalsky and Kristina Palmer on the LEAD Center's upcoming webinar, Paving Pathways to Careers and Advancement: Leveraging Registered Apprenticeships to Meet the Demand for Direct Support Professionals. Tune in and gain insights into how registered apprenticeships attract jobseekers to the DSP profession, improve their job quality, and expand career opportunities for DSPs. https://lnkd.in/g8aFUFFm