Founded in 1974, MDRC is committed to improving the lives of people with low incomes. We design promising new interventions, evaluate existing programs, and provide technical assistance to build better programs.
MDRC develops evidence about solutions to some of the nation’s most difficult problems. Explore our projects and variety of products, including publications, videos, podcast episodes, and resources for researchers and practitioners.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This report describes whether procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) works better with some parents than others in a child support context.
This brief presents the effect of using state unemployment insurance wage records—without supplemental out-of-state data—to evaluate employment programs.
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.
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.
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.
Despite the need for child care and early education (CCEE), it is difficult to recruit and retain qualified educators. This report presents a conceptual framework to serve as a guide for conducting research on the CCEE workforce and for designing and implementing strategies to build and sustain it.
There is a need for more (and better) data on the individuals who work in child care and early education. This brief summarizes promising data sources and identifies areas where future data collection may be most useful.
As part of the Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce project, researchers identified and reviewed strategies that are being implemented across the country to build, advance, and sustain the child care and early education workforce. This brief summarizes important themes that emerged from that review.
Impacts of the Texas Transfer Grant Pilot Program on Community College Student Transfer
The Texas Transfer Grant Pilot Program aimed to help community college students from low-income backgrounds transfer to four-year universities. This brief shows a significant impact on fall enrollment that grew over time for those students who were also offered a grant for the spring semester.
This annotated bibliography contains a comprehensive list of publications that were formally included in a review of literature on the child care and early education workforce and offers researchers, practitioners, and policymakers a quick guide to understanding the recent research landscape.
Insights for Implementing a Multiple Measures Assessment System
Multiple measures assessment (MMA) uses indicators such as grade point average to evaluate incoming students’ readiness for college-level courses (rather than only standardized test scores). This report presents interviews with stakeholders at 12 Arkansas and Texas colleges that use MMA, and also offers a cost analysis of their systems.
Turn Pro is a career-preparation program that aims to help college students, particularly students of color, enter quality jobs immediately after graduation. This issue focus describes the Turn Pro model and introduces a randomized controlled trial evaluation of its effects.
A Three-Pronged Approach to Fostering Strong Collaborations
This post describes how MDRC and Blue Engine collaborated to codesign and launch an implementation research study of Blue Engine’s school-based support model, learn from each other throughout the process, and share responsibility for their partnership’s success.
