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.
System-Wide Strategies for Helping Adults Access Training and Earn Credentials
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.
A Synthesis of the Research for Employers and Local Governments
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.
Resisting Erasure in Higher Education Policy and Practice
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.
A Qualitative Sub-Study from the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE)
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.
How a Pilot Program Targeting Ninth-Graders Led to Shifting Sessions from Weekends and Evenings to Regular School Hours
A New Mexico Public Education Department program offering virtual, high-dosage tutoring sessions was aimed at reaching many more students across this large, rural state. Enrollment rates were lower than hoped for, however, especially among rural students, who had concerns about work and family commitments, internet connectivity, and other issues.
Full Findings from the Pretrial Justice Collaborative
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.
A Framework for School Improvement and a Review of the Evidence
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.
Full Findings from the Pretrial Justice Collaborative
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.
In this commentary originally published in Route Fifty, Mervett Hefyan and Meghan McCormick discuss three ways states can strengthen home visiting services to address the effects of the pandemic on young children and to boost parental health as well.
How Fatherhood Programs Used Learning Cycles in Efforts to Improve Participation Outcomes
In rapid learning cycles, programs try a new approach, see how well it works, make modifications to strengthen it, and then try it again. This brief illustrates how 10 fatherhood programs used learning cycles to evaluate one of three promising approaches to engaging men in their services.
The Jobs Plus demonstration aimed to increase economic empowerment and mobility for public housing residents through on-site employment services, rent-based work incentives, and supportive work activities. Sites that fully implemented the model saw long-term positive employment and earnings effects, but negative effects were observed in sites that did not.
Unemployment among young people is well above the national average. Among Black young adults, it is even higher. Generation Work aims to address this inequity by improving how local workforce development systems serve this population. This report examines the first five years of the initiative in five cities.
A Study of College Transition Text-Based Messaging
Many underserved groups face barriers to college enrollment. This study evaluated a program that supplemented federal supports for these groups through text messages about securing financial aid, completing college enrollment, and navigating other barriers. The study found that adding the messaging program did not increase rates of college enrollment.
Create Wellness Communities and Schedule Staff Celebrations to Boost Morale and Well-Being
Many program managers are integrating self-care into their management strategies to address work-related stress. This post offers two group activities that managers can use to boost staff morale and promote well-being: wellness communities and monthly staff celebrations.