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Issue Focus
June 2024

How Innovations in Course Placement are Helping Community College Students Succeed

For a decade, MDRC and its collaborators have studied multiple measures assessments, an alternative to using tests to determine whether students can succeed in college-level courses.

Report
May 2024

Lessons from Addiction Recovery Care

This report explores Addiction Recovery Care, a Kentucky-based program that combines residential treatment and employment services for individuals with substance use disorders.

Issue Focus
May 2024

Workforce Programs Combine Virtual and In-Person Strategies

This snapshot highlights three lessons that demonstrate how 10 workforce programs created opportunities for improving services during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Report
May 2024

Monroe County, New York

This report describes two interventions informed by behavioral science to improve attendance at required activities among recipients of public assistance.

Report
May 2024

A Photovoice Study on the Pretrial Experience in New Jersey

In this photovoice study, three people who were involved with New Jersey’s pretrial system as defendants explore their experiences and make recommendations for how the system can be improved.

Blog
May 2024

This blog post describes eight processes and cultural shifts that the NYC Human Resources Administration and the Santa Cruz Human Services Department implemented to encourage innovation among staff members in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—and how each of the processes came to life.

Blog
May 2024

Expanding Access and Reducing Barriers for Job Seekers

As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies project, researchers conducted virtual interviews with staff members at 10 workforce programs to learn how they used technology to adapt their services during the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog post examines five adaptations they made.

Brief
May 2024

Learning from the JP Morgan Chase & Co. Summer Youth Employment Program Evaluation

Summer youth employment programs (SYEPs) provide early work experiences to young people. This brief focuses on SYEPs’ efforts to recruit employer partners.

Brief
May 2024

Learning from the JP Morgan Chase & Co. Summer Youth Employment Program Evaluation

Summer youth employment programs (SYEPs) provide early work experiences to young people. This brief focuses on SYEPs’ training in “soft” skills.

Toolkit
May 2024

TANF Data Collaborative Pilot Resources Toolkit

This toolkit provides individuals and organizations with guidance, drawn from learning and experience, on how to use administrative and other data to inform program improvements. 

Brief
April 2024

Identifying Core Components in Fatherhood Programs Through a Multimethod Analysis Approach

This brief describes a multimethod approach used to identify for rigorous testing those components of fatherhood programs associated with their success.

Report
April 2024

The TANF Data Collaborative Pilot Initiative Final Report

This report describes lessons from a series of pilot programs in data use and analysis undertaken by federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families agencies.

Report
April 2024

This report presents a scan of programs and practices relevant to young people who are furthest from opportunities in their communities.

Blog
April 2024

In the next decade, the labor market is predicted to create millions of green jobs. This blog post presents the Delaware Department of Education’s response: a project to embed principles of environmental literacy—an understanding of the relationship between human and environmental systems—into statewide career and technical education pathways.

Report
April 2024

Findings from a Random Assignment Study of Remote Versus Hybrid Supervision in New York City

This report presents new evidence on the effects of remote (phone) supervision compared with hybrid (phone and in-person) supervision for people awaiting trial.

Report
April 2024

This report describes whether procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) works better with some parents than others in a child support context.

Brief
April 2024

A Case Study of the Portland NEWWS Site

This brief presents the effect of using state unemployment insurance wage records—without supplemental out-of-state data—to evaluate employment programs.

Issue Focus
April 2024

MDRC Conducts Three Rigorous Evaluations of Approaches to Supporting Students with Unfinished Learning

K-12 schools have been working to tailor instruction to help students make up the ground they lost academically because of the pandemic. In three studies, MDRC is exploring two promising delivery mechanisms for tailored instruction: tutoring and adaptive educational technology.

Brief
March 2024

A Descriptive Study

The Journey and Right Path programs—which were operated by two county child support agencies in Ohio—provided employment and parenting services and individual case management to parents with child support orders. This brief presents findings from a descriptive study of the programs and lessons for policymakers and practitioners.

Report
March 2024

Cross-Cutting Themes from a Literature Review, Environmental Scan, and Data Scan

It is challenging to recruit, support, and retain a qualified child care and early education workforce. This brief presents the results of a literature review and an environmental scan that were designed to identify and document existing knowledge about the workforce and develop strategies to strengthen it.