Ratledge is a senior research associate in MDRC’s Postsecondary Education policy area and leads MDRC’s rural higher education work. Her research focuses on community colleges, technical colleges, and open- and broad-access institutions seeking to implement and evaluate innovative programs to improve graduation rates. Her primary areas of focus are student support programs, financial aid, and workforce development innovations, with particular attention on the unique assets and needs of rural colleges. Most recently, she has been co-leading MDRC’s federally funded National Rural Higher Education Research Center and directing the randomized controlled trial of Montana 10 within that center.
Since joining MDRC in 2012, Ratledge has written MDRC reports for several studies and regularly presents at academic, practitioner, and policy conferences. She has published in The Hill, Higher Ed Dive, Spotlight on Poverty, and Community College Daily, and has been interviewed by PBS Wisconsin and the Rural Matters podcast as a rural higher education expert. Most recently, she has partnered with research and policy groups to use research to support the rollout of Workforce Pell Grants. She has also published peer-reviewed articles in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, Urban Education, and American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Ratledge holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brown University.