Spring 2027

Analytic Tools for Public Policy

Training in analytical skills and tools for complex public policy decisions, covering quantitative and qualitative analysis methods for policy decision-making.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Lindsay Jacobs

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Zhenhuan Reed Lei

The course was rated as difficult, with the reviewer noting that the lectures were hard to follow.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Summarize foundational concepts in public policy analysis, including stakeholders, policy instruments, and evaluation techniques.

  • Identify and apply methods for evaluating policy effectiveness, efficiency, and equity.

  • Illustrate rationales for and limitations to collective action and public policy.

  • Be proficient in critically analyzing examples of cost benefit analysis within the context of public policy.

  • Communicate complex analyses and policy recommendations clearly through professional writing and presentations.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

ECON 101 or A A E 101(215 prior to Fall 2024)

PUBAFFR 380

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=39 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.98 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.90 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=36 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

LINDSAY JACOBS is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ZHENHUAN LEI is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 350
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 350

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Zhenhuan Reed Lei

A student found the historical instructor's explanations difficult to understand and his lectures hard to follow.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.96 GPA, 97.9% A/AB (n=47 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.98 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=52 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.85 GPA, 98.1% A/AB (n=54 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Zhenhuan Reed Lei

The course was rated as difficult, with the reviewer noting that the lectures were hard to follow.

Past student reviews · Zhenhuan Reed Lei

The student described the instructor as nice but found the teaching style frustrating due to unclear explanations.

Topics

  • Quantitative and qualitative analysis methods for public policy.
  • Foundational concepts: stakeholders, policy instruments, and evaluation techniques.
  • Rationales for and limitations to collective action and public policy.
  • Cost benefit analysis in the context of public policy.

Skills

  • Analytical skills and tools for comprehending, assessing, and addressing complex public policy decisions.
  • Methods for evaluating policy effectiveness, efficiency, and equity.
  • Critical analysis of cost benefit analysis within the context of public policy.
  • Professional writing and presentation of complex analyses and policy recommendations.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

4 earlier forecasts · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
PUBAFFR 380 · Spring 2027

Analytic Tools for Public Policy

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:826:025131",
    "course_id": "PUBAFFR 380",
    "course_uid": "course_c2f7303340b146167306c848",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "025131",
    "source_subject_id": "826",
    "title": "Analytic Tools for Public Policy",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "084ead142c65e23257aa68d6f2449735a8fabf873dc8b9110c3a456d8d0e0a43",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}