LAS VEGAS/CARSON CITY, Nev. – A combined $100,000 has been awarded to a total of eight Nevada academic organizations and students through the Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation (GOWINN)’s inaugural Nevada P-20 to Workforce Research Data System (NPWR) Research Grant. The NPWR Research Grant supports research that uses NPWR as the data tool to study Nevada’s most challenging policy problems in the areas of workforce development, economic diversification, and education.
NPWR is a state-of-the-art research tool that provides Nevadans with unparalleled access to the knowledge needed to understand trends shaping the State. Using state-of-the-art technology and best-in-class security, NPWR is designed to inform education and workforce policies and initiatives across Nevada.
Inaugural NPWR Research Grant Awardees include:
Workforce and Economic Development:
-
The Brookings Mountain West’s project, The Gender Cap in Nevada: A K-12, Higher Education, and Workforce Study will explore the gender gap in Nevada and propose public policy interventions to improve educational and workforce outcomes;
-
The Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Center for Business and Economic (CBER) Research’s project An Analysis of Nevada’s Pre- and Post-Pandemic Labor Force Participation Rate will identify and evaluate factors contributing to Nevada having the 3rd largest decrease in labor force participation following the pandemic;
-
The University of Nevada, Reno’s (UNR) Center for Economic Development’s Examination of the Relationship between Workforce Development and Housing, Education and Childcare Services, and Healthcare Services will explore how labor force barriers impact workforce and economic development and business creation, retention, and expansion abilities.
Education
-
The Lincy Institute’s project Nevada K-12 Performance and Implications for Economic Diversification will evaluate the differentiating factors between Nevada’s highest and lowest performing schools and districts in terms of on-time graduation rates, performance on standardized tests, and college-going rates;
-
UNLV’s Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment’s project Piloting School Funding Equity: How the Enactment of Senate Bill 178 Impacted Student Outcomes After Graduation explores how Nevada’s student funding pilot program impacted students post-secondary and vocational outcomes;
-
Dr. Megan Rauch Griffard from UNLV’s Department of Educational Psychology and Higher Education’s project Dissecting the Educator Talent Pipeline and Educators’ ROI in Nevada will focus on whether CTE certificates in education concentrations lead to eventual employment in education, seek to understand how long NSHE education majors take to earn their desired degree by educational attainment level, and how the wages of educators compare to other workers with comparable education and experience in Nevada by educational attainment level.
Students
-
Anna Dreibelbis, a UNLV law and doctorate student, for her project Assessing Career Readiness Gaps in Nevada to understand what the gaps are in soft skill development in CTE programs across Nevada.
-
Curtis L. Cobbins, a doctorate student, for his project Causes of Innovation Engineering Management Failure in Workforce Development Within the Nevada System of Higher Education to understand how strong the correlation is, if any, between employee analysis of skills gap alignment and the role of innovation engineering management.
“Each of the grant recipients will be honing their skills to provide the state with critical solutions in our most in-demand sectors that will hopefully have a great influence on generations to come,” said Kristen Dwyer, NPWR Manager at the Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation. “This research will help move Nevada forward with data-driven evidence-based policy solutions.”
Grant recipients will present their research and findings during GOWINN’s NPWR Research Forums on December 5 in Reno and December 7 in Las Vegas and will be printed in GOWINN’s annual NPWR Research Agenda.
The funding, which was granted approval from the Nevada Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee in December 2022, is supported by the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act.
To learn more about NPWR, please visit https://npwr.nv.gov/
###
About NPWR
The Nevada P-20 to Workforce Research Data System (NPWR) is a state-of-the-art research tool that provides Nevadans with unparalleled access to the knowledge needed to understand trends shaping the State’s education and workforce outcomes. Using state of the art technology and best in-class security, NPWR is designed to inform education and workforce policies and initiatives across Nevada.
About The Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation
GOWINN helps drive a skilled, diverse, and aligned workforce in the State of Nevada by promoting cooperation and collaboration among all entities focused on workforce development. Its chief objectives are to prepare all K-12 students for college and career success, increase the number of Nevadans with postsecondary credentials and increase labor force participation.
