Alexander Mayer
Alexander Mayer
Director
Postsecondary Education

Mayer is Director for MDRC’s Postsecondary Education policy area. He directs research studies, develops new projects, and conducts outreach to policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders. Alex is Principal Investigator for Text Ed, a project to develop, implement, and test a text messaging intervention for clients of Educational Opportunity Centers across the country. He is co-Principal Investigator for the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness, a national center to study developmental (remedial) education, which includes three major studies: a nationally representative descriptive study of developmental education; a random assignment evaluation of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways; and a random assignment evaluation of a new method to assess students’ college-readiness using multiple measures. Alex is also Project Director for a study of Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success, an initiative to better integrate data and technology in student advising. He was previously Project Director for the evaluation of the Achieving the Dream initiative, and has been a lead researcher on the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration, Aid Like A Paycheck, and the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency project, among others. Prior to joining MDRC, Alex cofounded and led a small nonprofit organization for public schools in San Francisco and also worked as a software engineer and consultant. He holds a BS with double majors in physics and mathematics from the College of William and Mary and a PhD in political science from the University of California, Davis.

Products

Report

A Study of College Transition Text-Based Messaging

Report

Studying Enhancements to Colleges’ iPASS Practices

Testimony

Testimony of Alexander Mayer, Deputy Director, Postsecondary Education, MDRC, Before the New Jersey State Assembly Higher Education Committee

Testimony

Testimony Before the California State Assembly Higher Education Committee and the Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance

Report

A Randomized Controlled Trial

Report

Final Report on the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration

Report

Using Behavioral Economics to Increase On-Time Child Care Subsidy Renewals

Testimony

Testimony Submitted to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance

Report

Lessons from the First Round of Achieving the Dream Community Colleges

Report

Student Characteristics and Patterns of (Un)Affordability

Report

An Evaluation of Achieving the Dream in Washington State

Report

Six-Year Effects of a Freshman Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College

Other Publications

Mayer, Alexander K., Reshma Patel, and Melvin Gutierrez. Forthcoming. “Four-Year Degree and Employment Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a One-Year Performance-Based Scholarship Program in Ohio.” Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.

Weiss, Michael J., Alexander K. Mayer, Dan Cullinan, Alyssa Ratledge, Colleen Sommo, and John Diamond. 2015. “A Random Assignment Evaluation of Learning Communities at Kingsborough Community College: Seven Years Later.” Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness 8, 2: 189-217.

Ahn, T.K., Robert Huckfledt, Alexander K. Mayer, and John Barry Ryan. 2013. “Expertise and Bias in Political Communication Networks.” The American Journal of Political Science 57, 2: 357-373.

Mayer, Alexander K. 2011. “Does Education Increase Political Participation?” The Journal of Politics 73, 3: 633-645.

Ahn, T.K., Robert Huckfeldt, John Barry Ryan, and Alexander K. Mayer, A. 2010. “Politics, Expertise and Interdependence Within Electorates.” In J. Leighley (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior. New York: Oxford University Press.