Kristin Porter
Kristin Porter
Senior Fellow
MDRC Center for Data Insights

Porter is a statistician with expertise in predictive analytics, machine learning, causal inference, and statistical computing. With over 25 years of experience, she has made significant contributions to quantitative research in K-12 education, work and income security, criminal justice, and public health. As a quantitative methodologist, Porter develops innovative methods and tools for both applied researchers and practitioners working with data. She has served as project director and principal investigator on multiple research methodology grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), focusing on regression discontinuity designs and multiple hypothesis testing. This work has produced open-source software to implement new methods she developed for estimating statistical power when correcting p-values for multiple hypothesis tests. As a data scientist, Porter collaborates with social service providers, leveraging their data to enhance their programs and improve the outcomes of the low-income individuals and families they serve. Porter pioneered the development of MDRC's predictive analytics framework and toolset and continues to lead their ongoing refinement. Currently, she advises integrating predictive analytics into two projects to improve and target services in workforce training programs. With her commitment to advancing applied statistical methods, Porter plays a pivotal role in training and supporting MDRC staff and hosts the MDRC’s Reflections on Methodology blog series. Porter holds a master's degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and a PhD in biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Products

Methodological Publication

Lessons Learned from Career Pathways and Child First

Methodological Publication
Brief

Results from a Partnership Between New Visions for Public Schools and MDRC

Methodological Publication

A Primer for Researchers Working with Education Data

Methodological Publication

A Guide for Researchers

Methodological Publication

Lessons from a Simulation Study

Report

Elementary Student Achievement and the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative’s Focal Strategy

Report

Elementary Student Achievement and the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative's Focal Strategy

Working Paper

Evidence from a Sample of Recent CET Applicants

Report

Final Report on the Center for Employment Training Replication Sites

Report

A Study of Adult Student Persistence in Library Literacy Programs

Report

Thirty-Month Findings from the Evaluation of the Center for Employment Training Replication Sites

Report

Responding to the Challenges of Adult Student Persistence in Library Literacy Programs