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NORC at the University Chicago

Robert M. Goerge

Senior Fellow
Economics, Justice & Society
Bob is an expert in the use of administrative data to build evidence that informs policymakers’ decision-making.

Bob’s expertise in data collection and government programs allows him to develop and apply research to major child and family policy issues. He creates research databases from state and federal administrative data to conduct policy-relevant analyses and evaluations. In particular, he has worked in the policy areas such as early childhood program, child welfare services, employment, criminal and juvenile justice, income maintenance, nutrition, K-12 and post-secondary education, and mental health services.

Bob’s work provides high-quality information to policymakers to improve the programs serving children and their families. Bob is currently employing AI tools in his work with the California Department of Social Services to help them better use the data collected from California counties to improve the quality of the CalWORKs program—California’s implementation of the federal Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF) program. Bob also leads a randomized control trial the Chicago Scholars program of funded by the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate the impact on college success.

Bob works with organizations at all levels—from the Oak Park, Illinois, Collaboration for Early Childhood to improve their use of local service and school data through providing technical assistance to states under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services TANF Data Collaborative.

He developed Chapin Hall’s Integrated Database on Child and Family Programs in Illinois, which linked the administrative data on social service receipt, education, criminal and juvenile justice, employment, health care, and early childhood programs to provide a comprehensive picture of child and family use of services and their outcomes. He was the principal investigator of the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education.
 
In addition to his research accomplishments, he is a co-creator of the Master’s Degree in Computational Analysis and Public Policy, and lecturer and senior fellow at the Harris School for Public Policy Studies. He was a member of the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Bob received his PhD from the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago. He is also co-founder of the International Society for Child Indicators.

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Expertise

Education

PhD

The University of Chicago

MA

The University of Chicago

BA

Northwestern University

Appointments & Affiliations

Lecturer

Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Project Contributions

Family Self-Sufficiency Data Center

Promoting better use of data by state-based assistance programs

Client:

Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE)

Chicago Scholars Randomized Controlled Trial

Impact study of a program supporting postsecondary success for students facing barriers to college completion

Client:

Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education

California DSS Qualitative Training

Transforming complex, decentralized data into evidence to improve a large state program assisting low-income families

Client:

California Department of Social Services (CDSS)

2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education

Examining early care and education after major disruption

Client:

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services

Support for Analytic Capacity of NSECE Data

Enhancing the analytic capacity of the NSECE’s public-use and restricted-use data

Client:

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services

Publications

Research Library & Findings