Paul Knipscheer, M.P.A.
Senior Analyst
Since 2006, Paul Knipscheer has served as a data analyst and on-site consultant for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services’ privatized Quality Assurance Unit. He has developed project methodologies, collected quantitative and qualitative data, analyzed both types of data and written reports. Mr. Knipscheer has been involved in several special projects, including evaluations of placement stability of children in foster care, re-entries of children into care, foster parent recruitment, youth in care transitioning to adulthood, assessment and case plan policy, and effectiveness of family preservation services. He has extensive experience leading case record reviews, conducting interviews of agency and provider staff as well as with families and children, and facilitating focus groups with both agency staff and the clients whom they serve. Mr. Knipscheer also served as the project lead for the evaluation of Arkansas’ Adoption Services Coalition Project, a multi-year demonstration project which aimed to increase the frequency of adoptions via a localized grassroots networking approach.
Mr. Knipscheer also assists in the production and quality review of standardized reports which report on the state’s ability to meet compliance or established standards. These reports are delivered to agency Executive Staff and Arkansas legislative committees on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.
Mr. Knipscheer has participated in projects outside of Arkansas as well, lending his expertise in data collection to a statewide performance audit of Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services. He conducted case record reviews and interviewed key stakeholders to assess the quality of casework provided by children services’ caseworkers and the barriers they face in meeting the needs of their clients.
Mr. Knipscheer received his Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. While there he served as a Graduate Assistant providing research support to faculty and staff.
Program Evaluation
From Arkansas Human Service Consulting PreQualifier Proposal (Data Analytics Component) – December 2016
Paul Knipscheer, Senior Analyst
Since 2006, Paul Knipscheer has served as a data analyst and on-site consultant for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services. Mr. Knipscheer serves as an the senior data analyst in the Division’s privatized Quality Assurance Unit, where he has developed project methodologies, collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data, and written reports. He has extensive experience analyzing large administrative datasets.
Using data from CHRIS, Arkansas’ SACWIS, Mr. Knipscheer has led or participated in several special projects, including evaluations of the increasing number of children in foster care, placement stability of children in care, re-entries into care, foster parent recruitment and retention, youth in care transitioning to adulthood, special board rates, assessment and case plan policy, worker turnover in certain parts of the state, and investigation quality and timeliness. He also assists with the unit’s contract monitoring function, which ensures that the Division’s contracted service providers comply with their contractual obligations while also generating positive outcomes for the clients they serve, and he produces data for monthly, quarterly, and annual reports. He measures outcomes on a prospective basis, meaning he identifies youth served in the relevant program and follows them forward to determine whether they are re-abused, reunified with their families, re-enter care or experience other outcome changes. He has developed and utilized methodologies that permit the state to compare its performance on various measures to national averages and federal standards.
He has served as the project lead for the evaluation of Arkansas’ Adoption Services Coalition Project, a grant-funded, multi-year demonstration project which aimed to increase the frequency of adoptions via a localized grassroots networking approach, as well as for the Garrett’s Law Report, which is mandated and submitted to the State Legislature for review each year. He has also analyzed administrative data for the evaluations of Arkansas’ Title IV-E Waiver and Diligent Recruitment Projects.
Mr. Knipscheer consistently meets client demands under tight deadlines. His experience with relational databases in conjunction with his familiarity with Arkansas’ SACWIS system allows him to accurately produce time-sensitive ad hoc reports in response to data requests from agency administrators, legislative committees, the Arkansas State Police, the Governor’s Office staff, and members of the media.
Mr. Knipscheer has participated in projects involving other states, as well. On multiple occasions he has engaged and reached out to child welfare staff from other states when comparing Arkansas’ policies and procedures to those in places elsewhere. He also lent his experience in data collection to a statewide performance audit of Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services. He likewise conducted research for a service needs study for the Connecticut Judicial Branch.
Mr. Knipscheer received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Villanova University, where he graduated cum laude, and subsequently earned his Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Prior to joining HZA over a decade ago, Mr. Knipscheer worked in non-profit and educational settings where he organized information and conducted research.