MDRC

Higgins: San Jose students deserve evidence-based decisions - San José Spotlight San Jose Unified School District’s "Schools of Tomorrow" initiative proposes closing up to nine elementary schools that act as community hubs for generations of San Jose residents. It is framed as a p...

San Jose students deserve evidence-based decisions (cites MDRC's evaluation of small high schools)

via Erin Higgins in the @sanjosespotlight.com sanjosespotlight.com/higgins-san-...

Technical Assistance at MDRC | MDRC Drawing on 50 years of on-the-ground experience and a deep understanding of what works, we help organizations build new evidence, use existing evidence, and harness data to advance their goals.

Drawing on 50 years of on-the-ground experience and a deep understanding of what works, MDRC helps organizations build new evidence, use existing evidence, and harness data to advance their goals. www.mdrc.org/services/evi...

MDRC Participating in the Achieving the Dream 2026 Conference, March 2–5 | MDRC Achieving the Dream leads the most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for community college student success. Several MDRC experts are presenting at the Achieving the Dream 2026 Conference i...

MDRC Participating in the @achievingthedream.bsky.social 2026 Conference, March 2–5 www.mdrc.org/news/mdrc-pa...

Workforce Pell Success Might Depend on Career Coaching | MDRC In this blog post originally published by New America, MDRC’s Alyssa Ratledge and New America’s Iris Palmer explain how career coaching can help Workforce Pell recipients enter, persist, and thrive in...

In this blog post originally published by @newamerica.org, MDRC’s Alyssa Ratledge and New America’s Iris Palmer explain how career coaching can help #WorkforcePell recipients enter, persist, and thrive in their chosen fields. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

Melissa Chavez of Impact Behavioral Health Services talks about supporting her clients w/ the IPS model of employment.

Part of MDRC's Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) Project with @abtglobalimpact.bsky.social & MEF Associates.

Full video: www.mdrc.org/work/videos/...

MDRC's evaluation of small public high schools in NYC shows remarkable effects on postsecondary access & success:

⭐ 9.5 percentage point increase in postsecondary enrollment
⭐ 2.5 percentage point increase in college degree attainment

Learn more: www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

Chris Knoper of Impact Behavioral Health Partners reflects on the Individual Placement & Support approach to employment services.

Part of MDRC's Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) Project w/ @abtglobalimpact.bsky.social & MEF Associates.

Full video: www.mdrc.org/work/videos/...

Michelle Bonnici of Impact Behavioral Health Partners in Illinois reflects on helping her clients build confidence through employment.

Part of MDRC's Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) Project w/ @abtglobalimpact.bsky.social & MEF Associates.

Full video: www.mdrc.org/work/videos/...

15 Years of Breaking Down the Barriers Between High School, College & Work Litow: P-TECH has grown from 1 NYC school to 600 worldwide, giving low-income students a path to a diploma, an associate degree and good-paying jobs.

15 Years of Breaking Down the Barriers Between High School, College & Work

via Stanley Litow in @the74.bsky.social www.the74million.org/article/15-y...

#WorkforcePell: Funding Opportunities & Challenges, Coaching, and Student Behavior

via @wesleywhistle.bsky.social @newamerica.org open.substack.com/pub/workforc...

Workforce Pell Success Might Depend on Career Coaching The evidence shows that to help students succeed, Workforce Pell programs should incorporate career coaching.

Workforce #Pell Success Might Depend on Career Coaching, by MDRC's Alyssa Ratledge and @newamerica.org's @irispalmer.bsky.social www.newamerica.org/education-po...

Thinking of running an RCT in postsecondary education?

MDRC has created a fantastic set of resources to help you in projecting minimum effect sizes, randomizing, and processing data

Proud to have helped advise this project!

www.mdrc.org/the-rct

Data from 25+ of MDRC’s Postsecondary RCTs Available via ICPSR The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trial’s (THE-RCT) restricted access file is available at ICPSR, includes de-identified data from 25+ postsecondary RCTs.

This is a fantastic resource for students looking for a paper topic

25 RCTs, with documentation and data

Thank you, @mdrc-news.bsky.social!

www.cos.io/blog/data-fr...

Ann Arbor guaranteed income program eased strain but didn’t shift food, housing insecurity • Michigan Advance In December, Ann Arbor’s Guaranteed Income to Grow program sent its last payment to the 100 participants in the city’s two-year pilot program. Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, which de...

In December, Ann Arbor’s Guaranteed Income to Grow program sent its last payment to the 100 participants in the city’s two-year pilot program. Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, which designed and implemented the program, has now released its report on the findings from the first year.

@sheeoed.bsky.social launches national initiative to expand holistic advising for students with ECMC Foundation and MDRC sheeo.org/holistic-adv...

Long-Term Findings Show New York City’s Small High Schools Boost Postsecondary Enrollment and Graduation Rates | MDRC MDRC releases new results showing New York City’s small high schools increase students’ postsecondary enrollment by 9.5 percentage points and their college degree attainment by 2.5 percentage points.

📢ICYMI: MDRC evaluation finds that NYC's small public high schools boost:

⭐️postsecondary enrollment by 9.5 percentage points
⭐️college degree attainment by 2.5 percentage points www.mdrc.org/news/long-te...

Engineer or entrepreneur? NYC parent council wants career aptitude assessments for high schoolers Can tech tools help students figure out their college and career plans? The Citywide Council on High Schools wants career aptitude assessments for all ninth and 11th graders.

Engineer or entrepreneur? NYC parents want career aptitude assessments for high schoolers, reports @amyzimmer.bsky.social @chalkbeat.org. www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026...

.@sheeoed.bsky.social launches national initiative to expand holistic advising for students with ECMC Foundation and MDRC sheeo.org/holistic-adv...

Expanding with Insight | MDRC This brief describes how STRIVE, a sector-based training organization that began as a small organization in East Harlem and is now operating nationally, is working with MDRC to draw insights from its ...

A new brief describes how STRIVE, a sector-focused training leader, has worked with MDRC to develop data tools to monitor and strengthen its programs as it expands nationally. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

Long-Term Findings Show New York City’s Small High Schools Boost Postsecondary Enrollment and Graduation Rates | MDRC MDRC releases new results showing New York City’s small high schools increase students’ postsecondary enrollment by 9.5 percentage points and their college degree attainment by 2.5 percentage points.

NEW! Long-Term Findings Show New York City’s Small High Schools Boost Postsecondary Enrollment and Graduation Rates www.mdrc.org/news/long-te...

Putting Learning into Practice | MDRC “The Learning Block Workbook” introduces learning cycles: a structured process of testing, collecting data, and refining practices. This post explains how the workbook helped program operators—grantee...

📢 New from MDRC's InPractice blog!

Learning cycles — a process of testing, collecting data, and refining practices — can help program operators continually improve their work. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

Lessons from MDRC’s Predictive Analytics Hackathon | MDRC MDRC recently held an event focused on predictive analytics—the use of historical data to estimate the likelihood of future outcomes. This post contains lessons from the event on how social service or...

New from MDRC's InPractice blog!

Lessons on how predictive analytics — the use of historical data to estimate the likelihood of future outcomes — can help program operators anticipate and actively address client needs. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

New RCT findings from MDRC on the long-term effects of NYC's Small Schools of Choice--high schools with 100 students/grade that emphasize personalized student-teacher relationships:

-10pp increase in college enrollment after HS (53% vs 43%)
-3pp increase in bachelor degree attainment (15% vs 12%)

Long-Term Findings Show New York City’s Small High Schools Boost Postsecondary Enrollment and Graduation Rates | MDRC MDRC releases new results showing New York City’s small high schools increase students’ postsecondary enrollment by 9.5 percentage points and their college degree attainment by 2.5 percentage points.

New findings from @mdrc-news.bsky.social's long-term, lottery-based evaluation of small public high schools in NYC:

⭐boost postsecondary enrollment by 9.5 percentage points
⭐boost college degree attainment by 2.5 percentage points
www.mdrc.org/news/long-te...

Lessons from MDRC’s Predictive Analytics Hackathon | MDRC MDRC recently held an event focused on predictive analytics—the use of historical data to estimate the likelihood of future outcomes. This post contains lessons from the event on how social service or...

New from MDRC's InPractice blog!

Lessons on how predictive analytics — the use of historical data to estimate the likelihood of future outcomes — can help program operators anticipate and actively address client needs. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

MDRC’s Evidence to Practice: A Year in Review | MDRC This blog post gives some highlights from MDRC’s Evidence to Practice—technical assistance—work from 2025. It describes Learning Labs conducted with three organizations, workshops and other forms of c...

In 2025, MDRC launched Evidence to Practice, its innovative technical assistance approach reflecting 50 years of experience.

Check out highlights from an eventful year working with various organizations, agencies, and other government entities. www.mdrc.org/work/publica...

Success stories shouldn’t be a secret | Episode 1004 of The Education Gadfly Show This week on The Education Gadfly Show, we’re joined by Karin Chenoweth, founder of Democracy and Education and author of Schools that Succeed, to talk about what she’s learned from years of visiting ...

New from the Fordham Institute's Education Gadfly podcast!

Amber Northern, @michaelpetrilli.bsky.social, & David Griffith on MDRC's new findings that NYC's small public high schools boost rates of postsecondary enrollment and graduation (starts at 28:35). fordhaminstitute.org/national/res...

graphs showing no impact of small school attendance on earnings

New MDRC report on NYC small schools: the puzzle for ed policy is that +10pp HS grad, +9.5pp post-sec enroll, and +2.5pp BA completion still show no earnings gains, echoing Dobbie & Fryer on TX charters.

If we want labor market outcomes to change, perhaps we also have to change the labor market

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📢 New brief from @ncslorg.bsky.social!

Strengthening Statewide Math Outcomes Through Early #Math and High-Quality Assessments, by Patrick Lyons (NCSL) and MDRC's Sharon Huang, Shira Mattera, & Emily Hanno www.ncsl.org/education/st...

2025 in Review: Insights from MDRC's Evidence First #Podcast

Host: Leigh Parise www.mdrc.org/work/podcast...