Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND; Ph.D. Candidate
Tara Blagg is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She has an M.S.W. in political social work from the University of Houston and a B.A. in Hispanic studies from Rice University. Her primary research interests lie in the area of children, families, communities, and social equity, including K–12 education inequality, state finance, physical and mental healthcare access, public health, and housing policy.
Prior to joining Pardee RAND, she directed the Texas House of Representatives Committee on County Affairs, where she guided legislation on indigent healthcare, county criminal justice, and other county-related issues. She was previously a health policy research analyst at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, where she managed a research project on the connection between child health and K–12 academic outcomes and worked on research regarding the public health impacts of gentrification.
Research Focus
Academic Achievement Gap; Child Health; Children’s Access to Health Care; Children, Families, and Communities; Community Health and Well-Being; Education Policy; Neighborhood Influences on Health; Neighborhoods; School Finance
Honors & Awards
- RAND Spotlight Award
Languages
Spanish