Carolyn J. Heinrich

Discusses a field experiment, using a paired audit testing design with testers of different racial and language profiles, was conducted to document and evaluate individual encounters in inquiring about COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. states.

Investigates challenges that low-income families face in accessing health and human services critical for their children's healthy development. Employs a mixed methods approach—drawing on administrative data on economically disadvantaged children in Tennessee, publicly available data on resource allocations and expenditures, and data collected in purposive and randomly sampled interviews with public and nonprofit agencies across the state—to analyze the distribution of resources relative to children's needs and provide rich descriptions of the experiences of organizations striving to overcome administrative burdens and support families. 

Analyzes the effects of high-powered, performance-based incentives in contracts between the Dutch government and private providers of training and social welfare services to unemployed and disabled workers.

Presents estimates of the impacts of the primary, publicly-funded employment and training program—the Workforce Investment Act – on the employment and earnings of program participants.

Estimates the effectiveness of providers of supplemental educational services in increasing the math and reading achievement of disadvantaged, urban public school students who are attending schools that are not making adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind.

Compiles and reviews the evidence on programs and policies aimed at improving: youth development for disadvantaged adolescents and young teens; educational attainment and employment for in-school youth; and "reconnecting" those who are out of school and frequently out of work to identify programmatic strategies that are promising or proven based on rigorous evaluations.

Reviews the growing body of evidence about how performance measurement and incentive systems function in practice and how individuals and organizations respond and adapt to them over time, and it also presents a dynamic framework for ongoing research that takes into account expected strategic behavior of individuals and its implications for accurate measurement of performance over time.

Addresses questions about what should count as evidence, how it should be communicated, who should judge the quality and reliability of evidence and performance information, and how to achieve a balance between processes that produce rigorous information for decision making and those that foster democratic governance and accountability.