MSG is pleased to announce that we are a host site for the Annie E. Casey Leaders in Equitable Evaluation and Diversity (LEEAD) program. MSG shares the LEEAD philosophy that “increasing diversity in the field of research and evaluation improves the knowledge base and makes for better science and innovation.” Host sites provide hands-on experience to LEEAD Scholars. As a host site for the remote residency, MSG will review Scholars who will apply to work with Lauren Amos on the Education Innovation Research (EIR) Dissemination Project.

MSG’s Anne Chamberlain, Sr. Associate Director of Research & Evaluation, and Lauren Amos, Associate Director of Research & Evaluation, delivered key presentations at this year’s American Evaluation Association (AEA) Conference. In four presentations, Anne and Lauren discussed the challenges of evaluating flexible programs; how evaluators can learn from design; how to communicate evaluation findings for use; and how to build client relationships.

Manhattan Strategy Group (MSG) helps enhance adult education quality through its work on several projects, including the Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS). MSG discussed LINCS during its presentation at the 2017 COABE Virtual Conference.

MSG’s Laura Lanier and Chrys Limardo explained how instructors, professional development staff, and administrators can use the LINCS Resource Collection and the LINCS Professional Development (PD) Center to improve student learning and educational out... read full article

MSG has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to conduct an analysis of the causes of variation among States in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) administrative costs. The Urban Institute is a subcontractor to MSG. This study will use extant FNS data and other publicly available sources to identify components and processes that explain the variation in expenses.

USDA pays states 50 percent of state administrative expenses (SAE) for SNAP. There is wide variation among the states on SAE cost per case, which averages $357 per case nationally, but varies from a low of $91 to a high of $848. MSG will examine some ... read full article

MSG has been awarded a subcontract to RTI to support the Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), in providing technical assistance to support diversion programs for young adults up to age 24.

For this contract, the RTI Team will provide technical assistance to diversion program providers, to strengthen their program capacity in local communities, with the goal to reconnect justice-involved youth to career and technical education and workforce opportunities. Sp... read full article

MSG has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) to implement and provide technical assistance for project stakeholders in Career and Technical Education (CTE), and community and technical colleges through virtual professional development events, online communities of practice, technical assistance workshops that include the use of the Advancing Equity in CTE Toolkit, and a National Advancing Equity Symposium.

This project will provide technical assistance opportunities that will be delivered through implementation of a virtual advancing equity in CTE Community of Practice (CoP), professional development... read full article

MSG has been awarded a 5-year, single-award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with the U.S. Department of Education to provide professional services required by staff of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to maintain its existing SharePoint information management resources and other technology resources in order to increase the capacity of IES staff to use these resources.

With the award of this BPA, MSG was also awarded a 1-year task order to provide Technical Assistance and Support Services for the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). For this initial task order, MSG will provide technical expertise and... read full article

MSG has been awarded a 5-year technical assistance contract with the U.S. Department of Education through the EDTASS contract vehicle to support the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program. EIR is designed to expand on the successes of i3 to offer new opportunities for States, districts, schools, and educators to develop innovations and scale effective practices that address their most pressing challenges. All EIR projects are expected to generate information regarding their effectiveness in order to inform EIR grantees’ efforts to learn about and improve upon their efforts and to help similar, non-EIR efforts across the country benefit from EIR grantees’ knowledge.

In partn... read full article

MSG has been awarded a contract with the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) within HHS to support the National Clearinghouse for Homeless Youth and Families (NCHYF). The purpose of this contract is to: 1) operate a clearinghouse website that will provide homeless and rural youth, their families, and youth-serving organizations with information about important resources and programs, and 2) maintain the FYSB website, provide updated information on FYSB’s programs to promote public awareness of FYSB’s mission and initiatives and provide limited support services to FYSB.

MSG will bring proven understanding of FYSB’s and RHY’s needs, developed through a longstanding relationship wi... read full article

Through Supporting Student Success, a U.S. Department of Education project, Manhattan Strategy Group (MSG) identified evidence-based promising practices to increase the college transition and completion rates of lower-skilled learners at community colleges. MSG Technical Assistance produced a publicly accessible series of videos and accompanying discussion guides.

Supporting Student Success through Professional Development

Blending Adult and Developmental Education-A Hybrid Model

Managing Commu... read full article

Manhattan Strategy Group (MSG) received the Federal Government’s highest possible rating for its performance on a Rural Education Technical Assistance project – Technical Assistance to Rural SEAs, Districts, and High School Graduation Initiative Grantees.

“The quality of Manhattan Strategy Group’s services and products was superior,” the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education stated in its Contractor Performance Assessment Report (CPAR).

MSG Managing Partner Shezad Habib credited the results to great teamwork and a rigorous internal review process. Laura Lanier, Director of Technical Assistance, noted that the rating “supports the exceptional pr... read full article

Manhattan Strategy Group’s (MSG) is proud to announce that our Associate Director for Research and Evaluation, Dr. Lauren Amos, will serve as a facilitator for the third annual National Science Foundation’s (NSF) STEM for All Video Showcase! STEM for All promotes innovative federally-funded research that seeks to improve educational opportunity and outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Running May 15-22, this year's showcase, called "Research and Design for Impact”, features three-minute videos on 171 STEM education initiatives -- 155 funded by NSF and 16 funded by other federal agencies. S... read full article

MSG hosted a briefing regarding the Career Pathways Toolkit, a publicly available resource funded by the Department of Labor and supported across federal agencies. This Toolkit aims to provide the workforce system and its partners—including the Departments of Labor, Education and Health & Human Services—the framework, resources, and knowledge to better guide state and local administrators in implementing career pathways systems and programs. Through this discussion, MSG expanded conversation on career pathways to engage various federal, policy, and practitioner stakeholders.

In the spring of 2014, MSG began working to reinvent the existing Career Pathways Toolkit. Though the origina... read full article

The Institute of Behavioral Psychology (IBP), an MSG associate organization with CEO Shezad Habib on its Board of Directors, was awarded the prestigious Princess Haya Award for Special Education (PHASE). Selected from a competitive pool of 119 applicants from 22 counties, IBP received the title “Institutional Excellence and Special Needs Centre.” This award has been presented since 2008, developed by Princess Haya al-Bint Hussein—wife of Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum—to honor innovative work in the special needs sector.

For the last thirty years, IBP has been working to provide special needs children with the ... read full article