This paper will provide an overview of the two large research projects that has linked administrative data files at the Ray Marshall Center since the late 1990s: the Administrative Data Research and Evaluation (ADARE) consortium's Texas portion, and the Texas Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI).  This paper focuses on research aspects of the projects, that is using the resulting data for enhanced policy research.  

The ADARE data that linked longitudinal welfare program participation and labor market outcomes information supported analyses of welfare-work patterns in large urban areas in five states (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas), resulted in a series of papers and a major book by King and Mueser (Welfare and Work, Upjohn Institute Press, 2005) and informed the debate on the effectiveness of welfare reform strategies focused on immediate labor force attachment. The Texas WDQI effort linked longitudinal public and postsecondary education data with workforce training and labor market outcomes files and supported enhanced analysis of student outcomes on an array of policy-relevant topics. Papers and briefs from the Texas WDQI project are currently informing education and workforce development policies and programs at the federal and state level.