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.
Roca Baltimore works with young men who have been involved in the justice system and who are at high risk of violence. This report draws on interviews with participants to present a picture of the men Roca Baltimore serves and the ways it works with them.
The Tools for Postsecondary Schools interactive toolkit is designed to help staff members and administrators at two- and four-year colleges use evidence-based practices to support students. It draws on over 20 years of MDRC research and technical assistance and can help practitioners at any stage in the program-development process.
Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial of Child First
Home visiting programs, which improve children’s development and strengthen caregivers’ and families’ well-being, faced many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines a program that provided psychotherapeutic, parent-child services during the pandemic and the effects of delivering those services online or in a hybrid format at that time.
California State University recently decided not to proceed with a proposal that would have required students to take an additional year of high school math, science, or other quantitative reasoning course for admissions. This commentary describes how MDRC’s analysis of the proposed policy helped inform that decision.
Interim Impacts of the Texas Transfer Grant Pilot Program on Student Transfer
Only a fraction of community college students who plan to transfer to a four-year institution actually do. The Texas Transfer Grant Pilot Program was launched to improve transfer rates and bachelor’s degree attainment. It increased the proportion of students who enrolled in a Texas public four-year institution.
The Bridge to Finish campaign aims to meet students’ basic needs at nine community colleges and one four-year institution in Washington State. This issue focus describes some features of the Bridge to Finish model that may be helpful to other state systems hoping to implement similar basic-needs programs.
Quality improvement in early care and education often relies on annual classroom observations. This study examined biweekly ratings of classroom quality by teachers’ coaches over six months and found that quality varied over time. The findings suggest that the timing and number of quality ratings should inform program improvement decisions.
Findings from the Head Start Connects Case Studies
How do Head Start programs coordinate family support services and are their practices aligned with each family’s needs and well-being? This report presents case studies of six programs across the country and explores service coordination from multiple perspectives—Head Start staff members, families, and local community service providers.
Using College Staff Members' Perspectives to Improve the Student Experience
Complex administrative processes in community colleges can delay graduation. The OnPath project aims to help students navigate those processes more effectively and persist in college. This brief examines OnPath’s use of research evidence and staff members’ perspectives and hands-on knowledge to build and improve college systems that benefit all students.
In this commentary originally published in The Hechinger Report, Rebecca Davis and Shira Mattera describe how investing in universal early assessment is an important approach to help communities meet the specific needs of young children and their families.
This document outlines design parameters for child assessment solutions that meet outstanding needs of the early childhood education field. It prioritizes the experiences, strengths, and needs of pre-K educators, families, and children whose perspectives are less often elevated in the design, creation, and validation of measurement and assessment tools.
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. This brief compares the relative effectiveness of different intensities of pretrial supervision.
Many jurisdictions use electronic monitoring (the use of electronic devices to monitor people’s locations) and sobriety monitoring (drug and alcohol testing) as alternatives to pretrial detention. Drawing on nonexperimental analyses, this brief reports that neither form of monitoring improves court appearance rates or the avoidance of new arrests.
In 2022, MDRC posted more than 120 publications, videos, and podcast episodes—offering evaluation results, profiles of innovative programs, and evidence-backed advice for policymakers and practitioners. Here are 15 of the most popular.
This report from the Research Alliance for New York City Schools and MDRC examines the impact of 37 CTE-dedicated high schools in New York City on a range of outcomes, including academic engagement, high school graduation, and college enrollment.
A Collection of Data Analytics Projects from State and County TANF Agencies
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Pilot Initiative, a component of the TANF Data Innovation project, offered technical assistance and training to eight state and county TANF programs, profiled here, in the routine use of TANF and other administrative data to inform policy and practice.
To reach policymakers, practitioners, and other important decision makers, MDRC experts authored or coauthored nearly 20 commentaries on evidence-based solutions for a variety of venues last year, including Workshift, Route Fifty, The Crime Report, Community College Daily, the Albany Times-Union, and Early Learning Nation. Here’s a selection.
Learning from the Communities In Schools Reengagement Coordinator Initiative
Schools have long struggled to reengage students who have poor attendance or who drop out—a situation that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2021–2022, Communities In Schools introduced the Reengagement Coordinator Initiative, aimed at reengaging high school students who did not reenroll or were chronically absent.
An increased focus on staff well-being has been an unexpected benefit of the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. MDRC has helped program managers use a variety of tools to support their workers, including self-care plans that individuals can use to assess and address the stress of their jobs.
This report presents 20-year findings from an analysis of an employment-focused program offered to individuals who received welfare benefits. The program generally increased average earnings but did not change employment trajectories. The findings represent some of the first evidence on how these individuals fared in the labor market long term.