Quantitative Methods for Public Policy

Macalester College, Saint Paul MN

Investigators

Abstract

What is Quantitative Literacy? How do you teach it? How do you measure it? How can you develop a program that will ensure that all undergraduates have it by the time they graduate? Faculty from Macalester College, joined by colleagues from Carleton, Grinnell, Lawrence, and St. Olaf, are thinking deeply about these questions and are testing a concept. A pilot program is running at Macalester and the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) has funded a four-year project to develop, implement, and assess an extension of this model and to begin to disseminate it to other institutions. The NSF project is complementing the FIPSE project by providing support for additional workshop activities, preparation of student projects and assignments, and development of a web site and a professional brochure. Some partial funding is being provided to institutions who will test the Macalester model. The program is interdisciplinary. The pilot year involve courses in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Political Science, Geography, and English. It is also cohesive. The focus is on public policy, and all courses use the same policy issue to illustrate applications. All students come together one evening per week to hear experts debate the policy issue and talk about their own use of quantitative methods in analyzing options. The policy topic however changes from year to year. While certain core courses participate every year, other departments participate only when the topic is particularly relevant. This is a mechanism for drawing in less quantitative departments. Viewing quantitative methods through the lens of policy analysis has the potential to be a strong motivator for students, demonstrating the power of quantitative methods in a context students recognize as important.