The U.S. Federal statistical agencies have long faced the challenge of creating an expert, stable workforce with skills in census and survey methods relevant to the production of official statistics - interdisciplinary skills not available in a single academic department. Numerous statistical commissions identified this need, but no ameliorative action was taken until the fiscal year 1991 Boskin Initiative for Economic Statistics promoted funding. The Joint Program in Survey Methodology was selected through a process administered by the National Science Foundation. Funding now comes through a contract with participation from twelve statistical agencies. Present and future agency employees participate in academic and short courses and seminars and are enrolled in citation, certificate, and graduate degree programs. Survey problems are addressed in courses that allow transfer of knowledge between the work environment and the academic learning experience. This partnership has substantially enhanced the capabilities of the federal statistical workforce. The paper reviews challenges and successes through this partnership.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education