Publications

MDRC led an implementation study of 59 student success programs across Texas that were funded by a COVID-relief grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This report presents findings; highlights research findings from previously conducted, rigorous evaluations of student support programs; and offers recommendations for future research and practice.

This brief explores how the COVID-19 pandemic shifted employment, earnings, and unemployment benefit receipt among workers who have historically faced obstacles to finding and keeping jobs in a more typical economic context—workers who were disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration, a large-scale research project designed to build evidence on the latest generation of subsidized employment models. This brief presents effects on earnings over a follow-up period of up to eight years.

Two new MDRC reports published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development highlight both the long-term potential of the Jobs Plus employment program to improve economic mobility and the challenges of effectively expanding the model.

Changing labor market needs—particularly with regard to the clean energy sector—highlight the importance of developing new career and technical education (CTE) pathways. This working paper provides an overview of CTE policies and examines the need to improve the education and training pipeline to expand the climate workforce.

This brief provides background information about three substance use disorder treatment sites—in Illinois, Ohio, and Oklahoma—that are implementing the Individual Placement and Support model to provide employment services to participants. MDRC is leading an evaluation of the programs as part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) project.

In this commentary originally published in Community College Daily, Lena Novak and DeShawn Preston describe the Texas Completion Repayment Grant program, which provided financial support to college students at risk of dropping out during the pandemic. When coupled with comprehensive student support services, this strategy could help more students complete college.

This blog post discusses two programs, developed by the Virginia Community College System, for helping adults access training and earn credentials that improve their labor market prospects and provide on-ramps to further education. MDRC and the Community College Research Center are conducting studies of the two programs.

This toolkit was created to help human services agencies build the culture and infrastructure needed to apply data analysis routinely, effectively, and accurately. While it was developed with state TANF agencies in mind, many of the techniques may be useful for a range of government agencies and other organizations.

High-dosage tutoring (HDT) programs are a proven way to accelerate student learning. The Personalized Learning Initiative is studying and supporting the expansion of HDT across the country. This post shares what the team has learned so far plus a planning tool that districts can use to implement such programs. 

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 encourages applicants for federal funding in domestic semiconductor manufacturing to include sectoral partnerships. MDRC has conducted nearly 15 years of research on sector strategies. This paper presents recommendations drawn from evidence that employers and local governments can use to implement sector strategies well.

A virtual roundtable brought together students, administrators, faculty members, and funders to examine and hear firsthand about the disparities, needs, and knowledge gaps affecting women of color in postsecondary education. This brief offers recommendations from the roundtable participants aimed at improving education and career outcomes for women students of color.

This report sheds light on participants’ perspectives of home visiting, using mothers’ own words. It explores how mothers who participated in home visiting programs perceived their experiences and relationships with home visitors, with a particular focus on building trusting relationships.

Many jurisdictions use electronic monitoring (electronic devices that monitor people’s locations) and sobriety monitoring (drug and alcohol testing) as alternatives to pretrial detention. The analyses described in this report from four jurisdictions found that neither form of monitoring improves court appearance rates or the avoidance of new arrests.

This report reviews 13 evaluations of comprehensive high school reform efforts, identifies the features of the models evaluated, and categorizes them to create a reform framework that can be generally applied. It also compiles information on prevalent features of reform models that have proven promising for improving student outcomes.

This issue focus traces the 25-year history of the Urban Assembly, an independent nonprofit that provides support services to public high schools in New York City. MDRC is conducting a study of Urban Assembly’s school support model.

Many early elementary-grade students do not achieve literacy proficiency because they do not receive effective personalized literacy instruction. The Assessment-to-Instruction (A2i) Professional Support System helps teachers use differentiated small-group instruction to address that need. This study examined two models’ effectiveness in implementing A2i and improving student literacy in schools nationwide.

The guide provides recommendations about specifying implementation research questions, assessing whether and how a planned intervention is implemented, documenting the context in which an intervention is implemented, and measuring the difference between the intervention and what services the members of a control or comparison group receive.

In place of bail, many jurisdictions are instead releasing people awaiting trial with varying levels of supervision in an effort to ensure that they appear in court and avoid new arrests. The analyses described in this report from two jurisdictions found that lower-intensity supervision was as effective as higher-intensity supervision.

MDRC Senior Vice President Dan Bloom reviews what MDRC’s evaluations of welfare-to-work programs say—and don’t say—about the effectiveness of work requirements and discusses the applicability of these findings to other public benefits programs.