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.
In this commentary originally published by The Crime Report, Melanie Skemer and Sarah Picard discuss how recent mediacoverage about the relationship between New York State’s bail reform and an uptick in crime has been misleading, particularly in using newly released data to conflate bail reform with a program called supervised release.
This is the fourth in a series of briefs highlighting strategies to increase educational equity by addressing students’ social and emotional needs. It describes how three school systems are moving toward whole-system approaches focused on healing, prevention, and cultivating psychologically safe and supportive environments for all.
An accompanying brief describes how three school systems are moving toward whole-system approaches focused on healing, prevention, and cultivating psychologically safe and supportive environments. This companion brief provides advice from leaders in two of those systems for others who may want to a develop a system-wide vision for such practices.
Research demonstrates that states and colleges can dramatically increase graduation rates, despite the considerable hurdles many students face. This brief shares recommendations based on one of the strongest bodies of evidence in higher education: research on multiyear programs that combine high-intensity advising, financial aid, and real-time data.
Detecting Follow-Up Selection Bias in Studies of Postsecondary Education Programs
Meta-analyses pool results from multiple published studies to determine the likely effect of a type of intervention. This post discusses a kind of selection bias that can typically lead meta-analyses to overestimate longer-term effects for a range of interventions under consideration.
A Model for Postsecondary Career and Technical Education
This brief highlights lessons from the City Colleges of Chicago Centers of Excellence model, which has redesigned each of the system’s seven campuses as a “college-to-career center” and consolidated academic programs in high-demand industries at particular campuses.
Amid keen interest in helping students, young adults, and low-wage workers build the skills necessary to succeed in a technologically advanced economy, MDRC is studying a range of programs that feature employer involvement, such as career pathways from high school into college and the workforce, work-based learning, apprenticeships, and sectoral training.
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are well positioned to provide educational experiences aligned with Native American students’ goals. This brief highlights the important role TCUs play in Native American communities and offers policymakers recommendations for supporting TCUs in increasing college completion for Native American students.
In this commentary originally published by Route Fifty, Jonathan Bigelow highlights the national challenge of finding landlords who will accept Housing Choice Vouchers. However, evidence from the Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) project in King County and Seattle offers lessons about what might help landlords say yes.
Attempting to Correct for Follow-Up Selection Bias
A companion post discussed a kind of selection bias that can typically lead meta-analyses to overestimate longer-term effects for a range of interventions under consideration. This post describes a way to use information on short-term outcomes to estimate how much the effects on long-term outcomes are overstated.
This report, a companion to an online evidence gap map, presents findings from an analysis of 60 studies of programs to support young people who experience disconnection from school and work during their transition to adulthood. The evidence gap map provides insights into what evidence exists and where there are opportunities to build evidence.
This brief examines Park City Career Pathways, a program aimed at addressing gaps in support for young people who are making the transition from high school to college and the workplace in a possible “COVID recession.” It offers lessons for other communities that may be interested in launching similar efforts.
Final Impact Findings from the Paycheck Plus Demonstration in Atlanta
Paycheck Plus expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit for single workers with low incomes and without qualifying children in two cities, offering a tax credit of up to $2,000. This report presents three-year findings from the program in Atlanta.
In 2020, MDRC and its partners conducted a literature review and held a series of conversations on the subject of engaging fathers in fatherhood programs that included practitioners, fathers, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. This publication collects engagement approaches practitioners and other stakeholders have tried or are considering.
This brief prepared for the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness presents interim findings from a random assignment evaluation of the Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) program at four Texas community colleges. It also includes an exploratory analysis of the effectiveness of the program for various subgroups.
Grameen America provides microloans to women living in poverty seeking to launch or expand small businesses. The program resulted in a reduction of material hardship and an increase in credit scores, business ownership, business earnings, and nonretirement savings. It also improved participants’ feelings of overall financial well-being.
Drawing on lessons from the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) project, this guide provides practical advice on how child support agencies can apply principles of procedural justice (the idea of fairness in processes) to build trust, better engage participants, and create a more fair and effective process.
In this commentary originally published by Early Learning Nation, JoAnn Hsueh, director of MDRC’s Family Well-Being and Children’s Development policy area, describes three evidence-based strategies that can help increase child care workers’ opportunities for advancement and upward mobility.
A San Diego program used IPS to help people with a range of disabilities find employment. This report summarizes 15-month evaluation findings from an earlier report and presents new impact findings. Of note, the analysis found the program increased earnings by almost $4,000 over the two-year follow-up period.
An Analysis of Programs Serving Young People Not Connected to School or Work
This report, a companion to an online compendium, offers findings from a systematic analysis of programs supporting young people who experience disconnection from school and work during the transition to adulthood. It focuses on services to help them reconnect to education, obtain employment, and advance in the labor market.