CURRENT research and funded projects
Annual Nevada Kindergarten Health SurveyQuality Rating Improvement System Pilot Project
Data Collection, Management and Analysis for the Clark County Child Fatality Review Team
SNIC WIC Immunization Linkage Project Evaluation
Communities in Schools
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP)
Past Research and Funded Projects
Annual Nevada Kindergarten Health Survey
In the fall of the 2008-2009 school year the Nevada Institute for Children's Research and Policy partnered with the Clark County School District and the Southern Nevada Health District and the State Health Division to create a survey regarding the health of incoming kindergarten students in an effort to collect baseline information on children’s health. This year, NICRP is again working with local school districts to administer the Kindergarten Health Survey for the 2009-2010 school year. A few new questions have been developed for this year’s survey, including questions about oral health, type of daycare/preschool that the child attended, and the child’s zip code of residence, allowing for a more in-depth regional analysis. At this time, approximately 9,000 surveys have been collected and data entry is in progress. The 2008 report is available on this website and NICRP anticipates that the 2009 Kindergarten Health Survey Report will be complete by early 2010.
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Quality Rating Improvement System Pilot Project
The Nevada Office of Early Care and Education is conducting a pilot project to test a quality rating improvement system (QRIS) for early childhood education centers in Southern Nevada. NICRP has been contracted to conduct the evaluation for this pilot project. The QRIS pilot project has selected several pilot centers to participate in this program.
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Data Collection, Management and Analysis for the Clark County Child Fatality Review Team
NICRP works as support staff to the Clark County Child Fatality Review Team. Through a contract with the state Department of Child and Family Services NICRP completes all data collection and management for the team. This includes attending meetings and completing the national data tool and entering the information into the national online database.
NICRP is also working with Clark County in developing its own annual report of child fatalities. Every two years the Department of Child and Family Services creates a statewide report using the data collected by each team. NICRP collects all the information for Clark County and creates a statistical report on the county’s child fatalities as well as prevention activities of the local team.
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SNIC WIC Immunization Linkage Project Evaluation
The Nevada institute for Children's Research and policy is working with the Southern Nevada Immunization Coalition (SNIC) on a process evaluation of their WIC Linkages project. The WIC Linkages Project is a collaboration between nine local WIC office locations and SNIC to provide parents education about immunizations and no-cost immunization clinics for WIC recipient children. The SNIC WIC Linkages project is one of a number of projects implemented by SNIC in an effort to raise Nevada's immunization rate of 19 to 35 months old children to 75%. NICRP is currently collecting data for a process evaluation of the project. The process evaluation will examine the implementation of the project, identify specific successes and barriers in the process, and examine the perceived effectiveness of the project from the participants' and staff's perspective. The project is expected to be completed in December 2009.
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Communities in Schools
NICRP
is working with the Communities in Schools of Nevada program to
provide data analysis and evaluation services to demonstrate the
effectiveness and cost benefits of the program to both students and the
community. Communities in Schools is the nation's leading community-based
organization helping kids stay in school and prepare for life. For 30
years, CIS has championed the connection of needed community resources
with schools. By bringing caring adults into the schools to address
children's unmet needs, CIS provides the link between educators and the
community. The result: Teachers are free to teach, and students - many
in jeopardy of dropping out - finally have the opportunity to focus on
learning.For more information on the Communities in Schools program, please visit their website at www.cisnet.org.
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Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP)
The overall five year goal of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP) is to establish a comprehensive, statewide screening, surveillance, and primary prevention outreach and education program to eliminate childhood lead poisoning as a pediatric public health problem in Nevada . NICRP serves as the Evaluation Coordinator that will work with an Evaluation Team comprised of key staff, Advisory Coalition members, and other community stakeholders with experience in program evaluation to develop, track, and report project goals, objectives, activities and outcomes. NICRP is also serving in the Program Advocate position by leading efforts to ensure program sustainability and developing research based policy initiatives.
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Nevada State Early Childhood Data Tracking Planning Report
Immunization Provider Mapping Project
Garrett Lee Smith Grant
Smaller Learning Communities Grant
Clark County Juvenile Justice Services: Girls Initiative and Detention Self Inspection Task Forces
Study of the Health, Safety, Welfare and Civil and Other Rights of Children in Government and Private Facilities in Nevada
Complaint Collection Project for Youth Residential Facilities in Nevada
Teen Pregnancy Resources
Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
Classroom on Wheels (COW)
Adoption NOW
Youth Suicide
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Nevada State Early Childhood Data Tracking Planning Report
The purpose of the project is to provide a recommendation to the State of Nevada and the Early Childhood System/Head Start Collaboration Office about the feasibility of developing a comprehensive early childhood data system for the purposes of research and informing policy. NICRP is currently working on examining early childhood data and data sources in the state of Nevada including existing data, needed data, and data that can be obtained from other sources. The report will include a recommendation for the most effective way to store, analyze, and disseminate the data to the public.
This project is expected to be completed in June 2009.
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Immunization Provider Mapping Project
In the Spring of 2009 NICRP worked with the Southern Nevada Immunization Coalition to map locations of all childhood immunization providers in Nevada. NICRP obtained several lists of providers including; a list of all physicians licensed in Nevada as pediatricians or general practitioners, list of VFC providers, immunization providers as listed on Nevada 211 and all pharmacy clinics offering immunizations. This list was then screened for duplicates and all locations were contacted via telephone and asked a series of questions regarding immunization practices. The final list of confirmed childhood immunization providers consisted of 311 locations. These locations were then geocoded and placed on a GIS map through the help of VTN services. These maps were presented at the Immunization Forum held in Las Vegas on April 7, 2009.
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Garrett
Lee Smith Grant
The Garrett Lee Smith Grant provides funds to offer services for the
intervention, prevention and treatment of suicide by youth. The Garrett
Lee Smith (GLS) Memorial Act Grant was secured by the Nevada Department
of Child and Family Services in late 2005 and is currently managed by a
Youth Suicide Prevention Program Coordinator and overseen by The Nevada
Office of Suicide Prevention Coordinator. NICRP was contracted to
provide a local and cross site evaluation of grant initiatives. Our
main responsibilities for the grant are to develop a local evaluation
plan for two main programs, Columbia Teen Screen and Gatekeeper
training. We are also responsible for providing necessary information
for cross-site evaluations. For more information about youth suicide
and programs offered in the state of Nevada , please visit the Nevada
Office of Suicide Prevention website.
http://www.hr.state.nv.us/directors/suicideprev/about.htm
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Smaller Learning Communities Grant
The Smaller Learning Communities Grant provides support for the
development of small, safe, and successful learning environments in
large high schools. Funds are provided to assist schools to develop
research-based strategies, implement, and expand smaller learning
environments. NICR&P will conduct a three phase evaluation of Clark
County School District ’s (CCSD) Smaller Learning Communities Grant.
This will include a formative evaluation, an evaluation of program
process, and an analysis of the program’s objectives and outcomes. As
part of the evaluation process, we are responsible for developing
evaluation instruments, and collecting and analyzing data. For more
general information, please visit the US Department of Educations
website dedicated to the Smaller Learning Communities Program. http://www.ed.gov/programs/slcp/index.html
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Study of
the Health, Safety, Welfare and Civil and Other Rights of
Children in Government and Private Facilities in Nevada
On November 16, 2005 , the Legislative Commission contracted with the
NICRP to conduct a study of the health, safety, welfare and civil and
other rights of children in certain government and private facilities
in Nevada . The study included three primary components:
- Analysis of the facilities’ policies and procedures that are related to the health, safety, welfare, treatment and civil and other rights of children in their care;
- Analysis of all complaints filed by or on the behalf of a child in any of the facilities, beginning with complaints filed on or after January 1, 2000, including accepting complaints directly during the project period; and
- Conducting unannounced site visits at each facility, which included observational tours and interviews with administration, staff and youth.
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Complaint Collection Project for Youth Residential Facilities in Nevada
Under a continuation contract with the Nevada State Legislative Counsel Bureau, NICRP accepted complaints regarding 30 facilities that house children across the state of Nevada . Included facilities forwarded all internal grievances to NICRP for summary and analysis. In addition NICRP had a toll free number and online complaint form available to anyone to file a complaint regarding any of the included facilities. NICRP collected this information until June 2007 and prepared a report analyzing all complaints received during the project period.
This project is a continuation of the "Study of the Health, Safety, Welfare, and Civil and Other Rights of Children in Government and Private Facilities in Nevada" funded by the Nevada State Legislature and mandated pursuant to A.B. 580 of the 2005 Legislative Session. A full report of the study was presented to the Legislative Subcommittee on December 7, 2006. To see the full report, click here.
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Teen Pregnancy Resources
In 2006 NICRP received a UNLV Planning Initiative Award to conduct research on pregnant and parenting girls in Las Vegas . This project involves surveying pregnant and parenting girls about service use and availability since learning of their pregnancy. This project consists of interviews with girls and also the completion of a resource manual for these girls to help give them information on community services available to them.
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Clark County Juvenile Justice Services: Girls Initiative and Detention Self Inspection Task Forces
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Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
Collecting data and acting as advocates.
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Classroom on Wheels (COW)
Coordinating preschool services for children in Storey, Washoe, and Elko counties. COW addresses the developmental needs of at-risk preschool children and empower their families to provide a nurturing environment with a goal of success in school and a healthy lifestyle.
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Adoption NOW
Evaluating the "Adoption Buddy" program for families adopting children with special needs - in partnership with the Las Vegas Office of the Nevada Adoption Exchange, Nevada Department of Child and Family Services, Administration for Children and Families, & DHHS.
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Youth Suicide
Research on youth suicide in Nevada - in partnership with the UNSOM Trauma Institute.
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