James P. Scanlan, Attorney at Law

Measurement Letters

(rev. Dec. 15, 2024) 

Listed below are letters and other communications since 2009 explaining to institutions or organizations – with respect to the recipients’ own analyses of demographic differences, analyses by others that pertain to the recipients, or guidance on analyses of demographic differences that the recipients have given (or should give) to others – that most analyses of demographic differences regarding outcome rates are undermined by failure to recognize patterns by which measures tend to be affected by the prevalence of an outcome.  Many items since 2012 are principally focused on the mistaken belief that generally reducing some adverse outcome will tend to reduce relative demographic differences in rates of experiencing the outcome (and the proportions more susceptible groups make up of persons experiencing the outcome) and explain that the opposite is the case.  Recent treatments of the issues addressed in the communications may be found in “The Mismeasure of Health Disparities,” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (July/Aug. 2016), “Race and Mortality Revisited,” Society (July/Aug. 2014), and “The Mismeasure of Health Disparities in Massachusetts and Less Affluent Places,” Methods Seminar, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School (Nov. 18, 2015).  Some recent treatments of the mistaken belief that generally reducing adverse criminal justice and school discipline outcomes will tend to reduce relative racial/ethnic differences in rates of experiencing the outcomes, and the proportion racial/ethnic minorities make up of persons experience the outcomes, may be found in “Maryland Discipline Study Shows Usual – But Misunderstood – Effects of Policies on Measures of Racial Disparity “Usual, But Wholly Misunderstood, Effects of Policies on Measures of Racial Disparity Now Being Seen in Ferguson and the UK and Soon to Be Seen in Baltimore,” Federalist Society Blog (Dec. 4, 2019), “COPAA v. DeVos and the Government’s Continuing Numeracy Problem,” Federalist Society Blog (Sept. 12, 2019),  “United States Exports Its Most Profound Ignorance About Racial Disparities to the United Kingdom,” Federalist Society Blog (Nov. 2, 2017), “The misunderstood effects of the Baltimore police consent decree,” The Daily Record (Feb. 15, 2018), and “Discipline disparities in Md. Schools,” Daily Record (June 21, 2018).

Comments on Department of Education Office for Civil Rights Request for Information Regarding the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline (FR Doc ID RD-2021-OCR-0068-0001) (July 23, 2021)

Response to Office of Management and Budget Request for Information “Methods and Leading Practices for Advancing Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through Government” (FR Doc No: 2021-09109) (July 6, 2021)

Memorandum to HUD September 22, 2020 Expert Panel (Sept. 19, 2020, updated Jan. 15, 2021)

Table of Contents to Memorandum to HUD September 22, 2020 Expert Panel (Jan. 15, 2021)

Table of Contents to Updated Memorandum to HUD September 22, 2020 Expert Panel

http://www.jpscanlan.com/images/Table_of_Contents_to_J_Scanlan_Sept._19,_2020_Mem_to_HUD_Expert_Panel_Participants.pdf

Justice Research and Statistics Association (Feb. 18, 2020)

Comment on FR-6111-P-02 HUD’s Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard (Sept. 11, 2019)

Jeffrey E. Sandberg, U.S. Department of Justice (Aug. 9, 2019)

National Quality Forum (Mar. 15, 2019)

Department of Housing and Urban Development (Dec. 13, 2018)

Coalition for Juvenile Justice (Nov. 27, 2018)

National Center for Juvenile Justice (Nov. 19, 2018)

Walker Hackensack Akeley (MN) Public Schools (Sept. 10, 2018)

Rochester (MN) Public Schools (Sept. 9, 2018)

Minnesota Department of Human Rights (Aug. 27, 2018)

American Association for Cancer Research (July 10, 2018)

National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (July 6, 2018)

Maryland State Department of Education (June 26, 2018)

University of Maryland Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice (June 13, 2018)

Johns Hopkins Univ Departments of Sociology and Applied Math & Statistics (June 11, 2018)

Maryland Equity Project, College of Education, University of Maryland (June 8, 2018)

Minnesota Department of Human Rights (May 14, 2018)

Comptroller General of the United States (Apr. 17, 2018)

Comptroller General of the United States (Apr. 12, 2018)

Materials Distributed at Meeting with Department of Education (Mar. 22, 2018)

Metro Nashville Public Schools (Feb. 14, 2018)

Statement for U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Briefing on Discipline Disparities (Dec. 8, 2017)

Loudoun County Public Schools (Sept, 5, 2017)

National Quality Forum (Aug. 29, 2017)

American Institutes for Research (Aug. 25, 2017)

Duval County Public Schools (Aug. 2, 2017)

Materials Associated Federalist Society Teleforum (July 24, 2017)

United States Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice (July 17, 2017)

Comments on Monitor Selection for Baltimore Consent Decree (June 26, 2017)

United States Department of Justice (Apr. 13, 2017).

Comments on Baltimore Consent Decree (Mar. 7, 2017)

The Honorable James K. Bredar, United States District Judge (Feb. 14, 2017)

Comments for the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking (Nov. 28, 1016)

Pyramid Equity Project (Nov. 28, 2016)

Comments for Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking (Nov. 14, 2016)

Oklahoma City School District (Sept. 20, 2016)

Antioch (CA) Independent School District (Sept. 12, 2016)

American Statistical Association II (July 25, 2016)

Federal Judicial Center (July 7, 2016)

University of Oregon Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior and University of Oregon Law School Center for Dispute Resolution (July 5, 2016)

University of Oregon Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior and University of Oregon Law School Center for Dispute Resolution (July 3, 2016)

New York City Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence (June 6, 2016)

Consortium of Social Science Associations (Apr. 6, 2016)

Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers (Mar. 29, 2016)

Council of Economic Advisers (Mar. 16, 2016)

City of Madison, Wisconsin (Mar. 12, 2016)

Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality (Mar. 8, 2016)

City of Boulder, Colorado (Mar. 5, 2015)

Houston Independent School District (Jan. 5, 2016)

Boston Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice (Nov. 12, 2015)

House Judiciary Committee (Oct. 19, 2015)

American Statistical Association (Oct. 8, 2015)

Chief Data Scientist of White Hous OSTP (Sept. 8, 2015)

McKinney, Texas Independent School District (Aug. 31, 2015)

Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education (Aug. 24, 2015)

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (July 1, 2015)

City of Minneapolis, Minnesota (June 8, 2015)

Texas Appleseed (Apr. 7, 2015)

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (Mar. 20, 2015)

United States Department of Justice and City of Ferguson, Missouri (Mar. 9, 2015)

Vermont Senate Committee on Education (Feb. 26, 2015)

Portland, Oregon Board of Education (Feb. 25, 2015)

Wisconsin Council on Families and Children’s Race to Equity Project (Dec. 23, 2014)

Financial Markets and Community Investment Program, Government Accountability Office (Sept. 9, 2014)

Comment on European Medicines Agency Subgroup Guidelines (July 31, 2014)

Education Law Center (Aug. 14, 2014)

IDEA Data Center (Aug. 11, 2014)

Institute of Medicine II (May 28, 2014)

Comment on FDA Proposed Subgroup Regulations (May 16, 2014)

Annie E. Casey Foundation (May 13, 2014)

Education Trust (April 30, 2014)

Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of House Finance Committee (Dec. 4, 2013)

Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University (May 24, 2013)

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (Apr. 1, 2013)

Federal Reserve Board (March 4, 2013)

Harvard University et al.  (Oct. 26, 2012)

Harvard University  (Oct. 9, 2012)

United States Department of Justice (Apr. 23, 2012)

United States Department of Education (Apr. 18, 2012)

The Commonwealth Fund (June 1, 2010)

Institute of Medicine (June 1, 2010)

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Apr. 8, 2010)

National Quality Forum (Oct. 22, 2009)