Alexander Mayer
Alexander Mayer
Director
Postsecondary Education

Dr. Mayer is a national leader in higher education research and in helping colleges and policymakers use evidence to improve student success. He has led several national research studies and is currently the Principal Investigator of the National Rural Higher Education Research Center, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the U.S. Department of Education. He has testified before state higher education committees in California and New Jersey, has been interviewed by PBS NewsHour, and has published in the Hechinger Report and the Community College Daily. Dr. Mayer regularly works with policymakers and higher education leaders on the use of evidence, and he has led the College Completion Strategy Guide, a collaboration among experts across the country to provide evidence-backed guidance for policymakers and system leaders on increasing college completion rates.

Products

Brief

Establishing the National Rural Higher Education Research Center

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

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

Report

Final Report on the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration

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

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.