What's
New
A Look at the National
High School Quality Rankings
Published in
Bethesda
Magazine (Sept-Oct 2009
issue)
“Rethinking the
Rankings” is an examination of what lies behind the
rankings compiled and released annually by
Newsweek
and U.S. News and World
Report as well as
the impact of these rankings in Groeneman Research &
Consulting’s home school district of Montgomery County,
Maryland. The article describes and critiques the two
methodologies used by these two well-known periodicals to
rank high schools. It also draws on in-person interviews
conducted with high school principals of some of the
county’s top-ranked schools to report how much attention
the rankings generate and whether they influence decisions
of the county’s parents and school administrators. The
article was prepared and the interviews conducted by
GR&C president, Sid Groeneman. The article is available
online in the Story Archive section of the magazine’s
website: Bethesda Magazine.
National
Opinion Research Center / Jewish Federations Study of
Geographic Mobility
Groeneman
Research & Consulting teamed with the National Opinion
Research Center at the University of Chicago
(NORC), to help Jewish Federations of North
America (JFNA) develop a guide for use in
confronting changes in philanthropy, volunteerism and
affiliation that are linked to geographic mobility
(residential moves). The study report contains practical
findings, policy recommendations and strategies intended
to benefit Jewish communal leaders and the Federation
system. Along with Tom W. Smith, Director of the General
Social Survey at NORC, Sid Groeneman co-managed a major
research component of this project -- an analysis of the
correlates and consequences of moving between and within
communities, based on data compiled from nine local
Jewish community surveys conducted during the past
decade and from the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population
Survey.
The summary and full report is available at:
“The Impact of Geographic Mobility on the
Jewish Community”
Census Bureau’s “R&D 2014” Program
In September,
the U.S. Census Bureau made awards to firms in five
technical areas for Research and Development 2014
contracts. The goal of these 5-year multiple task order
(IDIQ) contracts is to obtain outside research and
development services quickly and easily from individuals
and groups with advanced degrees and specialized
knowledge. M. Davis and Company,
Inc., a
Philadelphia based small business, was among the
awardees in the “Assessment, Planning and Analysis”
area. Sid Groeneman is M. Davis and Company’s designated
Project Director for this work.
Personnel Note: Michael
Groeneman
I.T. consultant to GR&C and Apple products specialist,
Michael Groeneman, is in his sophomore year at Carleton
College in Northfield, Minnesota. Michael has been
instrumental in choosing, setting up, and maintaining much
of the company’s computer/network infrastructure and
website. Although he’ll again be gone from GR&C’s home
base most of the school year, Michael has the capability of
advising and trouble-shooting from afar. His likely college
major is (Surprise!) Computer Science.
