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Evidence First

56 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 16 ratings

Policymakers talk about solutions, but which ones really work? MDRC’s Evidence First podcast features experts—program administrators, policymakers, and researchers—talking about the best evidence available on education and social programs that serve people with low incomes.

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Episodes

Training Workers When Employers Hire Based on Skills: Lessons from Connecticut and Virginia

February 15, 2024 03:42 - 32 minutes - 44.5 MB

As the cost of higher education climbs, skills-based hiring has gained traction. It’s a labor market trend in which employers hire based on applicants’ skills, with the understanding that degrees are not the only way to acquire competencies.   In a follow-up to an earlier episode on skills-based hiring, Rachel Rosen, who leads MDRC’s Center for Effective Career and Technical Education, speaks with two guests: Kelli-Marie Vallieres, Connecticut’s Chief Workforce Officer who leads the s...

Implementing an Evidence-Based and Domain-Specific Pre-K Curriculum: A Conversation with Cheryl Ohlson and Michelle Maier

January 22, 2024 20:51 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MB

Most pre-K classrooms use a whole-child approach to educational curricula, which focuses on the broad development of children’s academic skills. By contrast, domain-specific curricula focus more on specific areas of learning, such as math, literacy, or science. MDRC has partnered with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to implement a new domain-specific curriculum in its schools. In this episode, Leigh Parise speaks with Cheryl Ohlson, DCPS deputy chief of early childhood edu...

When Employers Hire Based on Skills: A Conversation with Matt Sigelman

December 21, 2023 21:22 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MB

As the cost of higher education climbs, skills-based hiring has gained traction. It’s a labor market trend in which employers hire based on applicants’ skills, with the understanding that degrees are not the only way to acquire competencies.   Skills-based hiring has the potential to increase equity in the hiring process, providing avenues to socio-economic mobility for historically marginalized populations. However, there are also questions about whether the movement could demotivate...

Lessons about Tutoring and Addressing Learning Loss from Reading Partners

December 08, 2023 19:06 - 24 minutes - 34.2 MB

Many schools are expanding tutoring services and personalized instruction to address learning loss caused by the pandemic. This episode features Reading Partners, a successful national nonprofit that mobilizes community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring to students who struggle with reading in under-resourced elementary schools. MDRC has been working with Reading Partners for nearly 15 years to help document and improve the program’s effectiveness. MDRC’s rigorous evaluation of Rea...

Adapting a Wraparound Student Support Program for College Students in Rural Areas: A Conversation with Crystine Miller and Alyssa Ratledge

November 01, 2023 18:23 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MB

Montana 10 is a scholarship program offered by the Montana University System that offers wraparound academic, social, and financial supports to students from rural areas, first-generation college students, and Native American students. MDRC is partnering with the Montana University System on an evaluation of Montana 10.. In this episode, Leigh Parise speaks with Crystine Miller, Director of Student Affairs and Student Engagement in the Montana University System, and Alyssa Ratledge, a Re...

From Doubling Graduation Rates to Increasing Earnings: Replicating the City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (CUNY ASAP) in Ohio

August 24, 2023 14:45 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MB

In 2014, three Ohio colleges set out to adapt a student support model pioneered by the City University of New York called Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, or ASAP. The program requires students to attend college full time and provides them with support services for three years, including enhanced advising, financial aid, and career counseling. MDRC'S evaluation of the ASAP Ohio program has found that it doubled graduation rates for community college students after three years. Wit...

Nondegree Credential Programs in Higher Ed: A Conversation with Paul Fain and Betsy Tessler

July 24, 2023 20:06 - 45 minutes - 62 MB

Nondegree credentials are typically certificates or licenses earned in a short period of time that confer some kind of professional or industry-recognized skill. They’re not new to the world of higher education, but they have received a lot of attention in the last few years as a “faster ” way to connect students to employment in comparison to earning a traditional college degree.   Leigh Parise sits down with Paul Fain, a higher education journalist who writes an education and workforce...

Reflections on the Evidence-Building Movement

June 14, 2023 21:23 - 38 minutes - 53 MB

In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with MDRC President Virginia (Ginger) Knox and Naomi Goldstein, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)  at the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Goldstein is also a member of the MDRC Board of Directors. They reflect on their experiences in evaluating programs and policies, the growth of the evidence-building movement, and future consider...

How Can Data Science Tools Better Represent Participant Experiences? A Conversation with Ahmed Whitt and Alissa Stover

April 20, 2023 20:33 - 38 minutes - 52.6 MB

The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides wrap-around support and employment services to people returning home from incarceration. While participant feedback was always important to their work, CEO was looking to better understand the range of their participants’ experiences and use it to improve the services they provide. MDRC’s Center for Data Insights (CDI) partnered with CEO and used data science tools and qualitative research to better utilize the feedback CEO was recei...

Can Market Value Assets Better Prepare Students for College and Career?

March 30, 2023 14:26 - 42 minutes - 57.9 MB

Through its Real World Learning initiative in the Kansas City metropolitan area, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is working to ensure that all students in participating districts graduate from high school with a diploma and at least one market value asset (or MVA). MVAs are designed to prepare students for further education and employment. They can include such activities as completing an internship or employer-sponsored project, earning an industry-recognized credential, engaging...

How Can State Government Agencies Increase Their Use of Data Analytics? A Conversation with Michael Meotti, Isaac Kwakye, and Rick Hendra

February 08, 2023 21:25 - 31 minutes - 42.7 MB

The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) is a state government agency with a goal of increasing educational opportunity and attainment for Washington residents. WSAC has partnered with the MDRC Center for Data Insights (CDI) to create manageable data-analytics tools for the agency to use to track and improve student outcomes.    In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Michael Meotti, WSAC Executive Director; Isaac Kwakye, WSAC Senior Director of Research and Student Success; a...

Do Industry-Recognized Credentials Help Students Transition to College and Careers? A Conversation with Matt Giani

January 10, 2023 23:42 - 36 minutes - 50.2 MB

Industry-recognized credentials, or IRCs, are an increasingly common strategy used to demonstrate that high school students have learned skills or competencies in a specific industry or occupation. But what do we know about their impact on student outcomes? And do they help students succeed in college and in the labor market? In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Matt Giani, a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and a Faculty Affiliate in the Texas Behavioral Sci...

Promoting Equity in College Completion: An Interview with Amanda Janice Roberson and Jinann Bitar

December 19, 2022 21:10 - 39 minutes - 54.3 MB

While the percentage of adults with a postsecondary degree has increased over the past several decades, there are large gaps in degree attainment by race, ethnicity, and income. In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with two higher education experts—Amanda Janice Roberson at the Institute for Higher Education Policy and Jinann Bitar at The Education Trust—about policies and practices to advance equitable student outcomes in higher education, including the federal College Completion Fund.

Bringing Procedural Justice Principles to Child Support Programs

December 15, 2022 15:52 - 42 minutes - 58.5 MB

Child support agencies aim to secure payments from noncustodial parents to support the well-being of their children. When noncustodial parents fall behind on child support, they may face consequences, such as driver's license suspensions, civil contempt, and even jail time. These enforcement actions can make it harder for parents to make future child support payments. The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration, sponsored by the federal Office of Child Sup...

Is Individualized Instruction the Answer to the Pandemic’s Unfinished Learning? A Discussion with Andy Rotherham and William Corrin

November 03, 2022 16:07 - 45 minutes - 61.8 MB

The pandemic has had devastating effects on students’ learning. One strategy to help students is individualized instruction, which includes interventions like tutoring. In this lively episode, Leigh Parise talks with Andy Rotherham, cofounder of Bellwether, a national education nonprofit organization, and William Corrin, the director of MDRC’s K-12 Education policy area, about the promise, challenges, and politics of implementing individualized instruction.

Training Students for the Green Jobs of Tomorrow

September 22, 2022 21:29 - 12 minutes - 16.8 MB

Green jobs in diverse industries, such as transportation, construction, environmental management, and agriculture, have grown in recent years and are predicted to further increase in the future. Filling these jobs will require a skilled workforce, yet federal investments in training for green jobs have focused mostly on adults. In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Rachel Rosen, a senior research associate and co-director of MDRC's Center for Effective Career and Technical Education, on ...

Improving Pre-K Assessments: An Interview with Preschool Teachers

August 10, 2022 16:51 - 26 minutes - 35.9 MB

The majority of children in the United States now attend some type of formal pre-K program before starting elementary school. Pre-K assessments—or short tests and activities that measure early skills—are an important tool for understanding children’s learning and development in these settings. In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Lia Wilson, the Preschool Program Coordinator at the Parent Infant Center in Philadelphia, and Brooks Wilson, a Lead Teacher at the Center, to gain their pers...

Improving Pre-K Assessments: An Interview with School Administrators

May 20, 2022 17:09 - 30 minutes - 42.1 MB

The majority of children in the United States now attend some type of formal pre-K program before starting elementary school. Pre-K assessments—or short tests and activities that measure early skills—are an important tool for understanding children’s learning and development in these settings. In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with two leaders from the AppleTree Institute—Dr. Niesha Keemer, Principal and Instructional Leader, and Dr. Abby Carlson, Director of Research and Impact­— about ...

Considerations for Jurisdictions Seeking Pretrial Reform

April 14, 2022 20:34 - 14 minutes - 20.1 MB

As part of the criminal justice system, the pretrial system is set up to ensure individuals appear in court to maintain public safety and maximize pretrial release. But over the last few decades, a more punitive approach to pretrial justice has evolved, in which jailing individuals who haven't been convicted of a crime has become the norm in many jurisdictions. In many cases, individuals remain in jail pretrial simply because they cannot afford the cash bail set in their case. As a result, pe...

THE-RCT Database: A New Resource for Analyzing Studies of Postsecondary Education Interventions

January 26, 2022 22:26 - 28 minutes - 39.1 MB

Improving outcomes for community college students has long been the focus of rigorous research studies by MDRC and others. Through a project called The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trial, or THE-RCT, MDRC has created a broadly accessible database that compiles student-level data from all MDRC’s randomized controlled trial evaluations of postsecondary education programs. Researchers are able to use the database to conduct analyses across studies to answer important questions about t...

Providing Comprehensive Support Services to College Students: An Interview with SUCCESS Students and Coaches

December 09, 2021 22:33 - 22 minutes - 30.3 MB

A growing body of research shows that comprehensive student support programs can increase graduation rates for students from low-income backgrounds and students of color. But what do these programs look like on the ground? And what are the experiences of students participating in them? In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with students and staff from Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana about SUCCESS, a student support program that offers personalized advising and financial in...

An Innovative Workforce Program: An Interview with Two Coaches from the MyGoals for Employment Success Program

December 06, 2021 17:02 - 16 minutes - 23 MB

Too many people in the United States struggle to achieve economic mobility. With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting vulnerable populations the most, gaining financial stability became even harder. Workforce programs that focus on helping people find jobs may not be enough to advance in the labor market, especially for people facing additional barriers to success. The MyGoals for Employment Success program offers a unique coaching model that concentrates on developing executive skills—like emotion...

Providing Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Recovery, and Employment Services During the Pandemic

August 26, 2021 20:21 - 23 minutes - 32 MB

Programs that combine employment services with substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and recovery services have faced unprecedented challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic, including increased substance misuse and overdose, dramatic increases in unemployment, and the need to quickly shift to virtual service provision. In partnership, MDRC, Abt Associates, and MEF Associates learned how some of these SUD treatment programs adapted their services early in the pandemic in response to these chall...

Internships and Apprenticeships in a Newly Virtual Workplace

June 09, 2021 19:41 - 8 minutes - 12 MB

Work-based learning opportunities, like internships and apprenticeships, are a critical component to many career and technical education programs. They can help participants develop critical skills for in-demand careers. The abrupt shift to virtual education caused by the pandemic hit these programs especially hard. In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Hannah Dalporto, a research associate at MDRC, who recently cowrote a piece about how employers and trainers have been adapting their s...

How One Home Visiting Model Adapted During the Pandemic

April 06, 2021 16:57 - 24 minutes - 33.7 MB

Early childhood experiences of trauma and toxic stress can affect how young children develop and are associated with learning and behavior problems. Child First is a promising home visiting program that aims to mitigate or prevent these negative experiences for families to promote healthy development for kids.  An initial study of Child First found that the program improved children's social-emotional skills and language development, reduced mother's depression and improved their psycholog...

Rural Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities — Part IV

December 21, 2020 19:21 - 46 minutes - 43.6 MB

A special series from the Rural Matters podcast This episode is the last of a special four-part series about issues facing rural higher education from our colleagues at the Rural Matters podcast. It is coproduced by MDRC and supported by Ascendium Education Group. As the United States confronts the recession caused by the pandemic, the economic stability of rural areas looms large. Many rural counties never economically rebounded from the 2008 recession, even as urban and suburban commu...

Rural Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities — Part III

December 06, 2020 20:55 - 57 minutes - 53.3 MB

A special series from the Rural Matters podcast This episode is the third of a special four-part series about issues facing rural higher education from our colleagues at the Rural Matters podcast. It is coproduced by MDRC and supported by Ascendium Education Group. Rural America is not monolithic. About 15 to 20 percent of rural individuals identify as non-white, but in many areas of the country the percentage is much higher. Even in predominantly white states, rural diversity is increas...

How Can Behavioral Science Help Programs Better Serve Clients During the Pandemic?

December 02, 2020 17:43 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MB

Why don't government social services programs better serve families struggling through crises like the COVID-19 pandemic? One reason is that these systems are designed for compliance over access. Many of those who are in need and qualify for benefits are deterred by administrative burdens, including excessive steps and paperwork. Insights from behavioral science can help agencies and nonprofits find ways to streamline their processes and simplify their communications with clients. In this ...

Rural Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities — Part II

November 14, 2020 20:20 - 48 minutes - 45.7 MB

A special series from the Rural Matters podcast This episode is the second of a special four-part series about issues facing rural higher education from our colleagues at the Rural Matters podcast. It is coproduced by MDRC and supported by Ascendium Education Group. In this episode, Rural Matters host Michelle Rathman chats with four individuals committed to improving education in West Virginia: Danielle Vetter, Senior Program Officer at Ascendium Education Group; Stephanie Hyre, Senior ...

Rural Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities — Part I

October 29, 2020 18:14 - 42 minutes - 39.8 MB

This episode is the first of a special four-part series about issues facing rural higher education from our colleagues at the Rural Matters podcast. It is coproduced by MDRC and supported by Ascendium Education Group. COVID-19 has caused seismic shifts for postsecondary education. For rural colleges, the pandemic exacerbated issues that have affected students and communities for decades. While 41 percent of urban adults have a college degree, only 28 percent of rural adults do. The colleg...

How Does the Dana Center Math Pathways Improve Students’ Success in Math?

October 15, 2020 17:04 - 12 minutes - 17.1 MB

Too many community college students get stuck in multi-semester developmental math sequences and never progress to or complete college-level courses. To meet this challenge, the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin developed the Dana Center Math Pathways (DCMP), which diversifies the math course content that students take so it better aligns with their career interests. The curriculum also encourages student-centered learning in small group formats. Researchers from ...

How Can Subsidized Jobs Help the Most Disadvantaged Workers Recover from the COVID-19 Recession?

July 30, 2020 14:47 - 16 minutes - 22.1 MB

Subsidized employment uses public funds to create jobs for the unemployed and are especially useful during economic downturns. Many have argued that subsidized employment programs should be part of policymakers’ response to pandemic-induced mass joblessness. MDRC has been studying subsidized employment for more than 40 years and recently completed two large-scale federal projects that rigorously tested 13 subsidized employment programs in eight states. The programs served very disadvantage...

Can Schools Outside of New York City Replicate the CUNY ASAP Program?

June 29, 2020 19:35 - 21 minutes - 29 MB

The City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) provides comprehensive support services to community college students to help them stay enrolled and graduate. MDRC’s evaluation of ASAP at CUNY community colleges found that it nearly doubled graduation rates within three years — which are some of the largest impacts found among programs for community college students. To see if the program could work beyond New York City, CUNY, MDRC, and the Ohio Department ...

What Happens When You Combine an Accelerated Academic Program with Workplace Exposure and Career Skills?

June 04, 2020 22:25 - 15 minutes - 20.7 MB

New types of career and technical education programs are trying to prepare workers for an increasingly complex labor market. For high school students, this preparation can mean combining academic study with a strong career focus and hands-on work experience with an industry partner. MDRC is testing the effectiveness of this approach in an evaluation of the New York City P-TECH 9-14 school model. P-TECH 9-14 schools collaborate with local community colleges to allow students to earn high scho...

Accelerating Student Success Through Summer Enrollment

May 13, 2020 17:05 - 15 minutes - 21.9 MB

Community colleges graduation rates remain low. Some studies have shown that students who enroll in summer courses are more likely to stay on track and graduate, yet despite these benefits most college students do not attend during the summer. So why don’t students attend, and how can colleges encourage more of them to enroll in the summer? To answer these questions MDRC launched the Encouraging Additional Summer Enrollment — or EASE — project in partnership with the Ohio Association of Co...

Testing a Successful Employment Model in a New Context

April 20, 2020 19:13 - 12 minutes - 17.1 MB

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is a model for helping people who have serious mental illness find employment. There is a good deal of evidence showing the model’s success, but less is known about the model’s effectiveness with those who have other types of disabilities and health conditions, such as physical disabilities or less severe types of mental illness. Between 2016 and 2018, MDRC led an evaluation of Breaking Barriers, a program in San Diego County that implemented the IPS ...

MDRC’s K-12 Education Research: Past, Present, and Future

March 10, 2020 18:11 - 18 minutes - 24.9 MB

In the beginning, MDRC was known primarily for evaluations of state welfare-to-work programs. Since then, MDRC has brought its unique approach to an ever-growing range of policy areas and populations. Recently, MDRC celebrated 25 years of working in the field of K-12 research – collaborating with teachers, school leaders, and districts to improve students’ prospects for success. Join Leigh Parise as she talks with Fred Doolittle, MDRC Senior Fellow, and William Corrin, Director of K-12 educa...

Using Data-Driven Strategies for Program Improvement

September 24, 2019 18:19 - 19 minutes - 26.5 MB

Government agencies work hard to help the people they serve, whether it’s helping individuals find jobs or improve family well-being. But despite best efforts, some participants still don’t succeed. What are some ways government agencies can improve services and ensure participants remain on the right track? In this episode, Kate Gualtieri, MDRC’s Director of Strategy, talks with MDRC Senior Fellow Melissa Wavelet, the former director of the Office of Performance and Strategic Outcomes in ...

Replicating CUNY’s ASAP Model in Ohio: Interview with Dr. Marcia Ballinger

September 12, 2019 20:23 - 13 minutes - 18.8 MB

Nationwide, only 25 percent of full-time, first-time students at community colleges earn a degree within three years. To increase graduation rates for low-income community college students, the City University of New York (CUNY) launched Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) — a comprehensive program that provides wrap-around support services to students, including one-on-one advising, help covering transportation and book expenses, and tutoring. MDRC’s evaluation of the CUNY ASAP...

Can Aligned Instruction Prevent Pre-K Fadeout?

July 25, 2019 16:40 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MB

High-quality preschool education can have substantial positive impacts on children’s early learning and development, as well as longer-term outcomes like graduating from high school and attending college. But the boost in skills young children experience can fade out as they move on to kindergarten and elementary school, exacerbating the achievement gap between children from more- versus less-advantaged backgrounds. This fadeout pattern has drawn greater attention to students’ experiences ...

The Story of a Practitioner-Researcher Partnership: Studying the Effects of the Grameen America Program

May 16, 2019 18:46 - 11 minutes - 15.4 MB

Can giving small loans to low-income people to start or grow their businesses help lift them out of poverty and improve overall well-being? That’s the idea behind microlending – a promising approach implemented by institutions worldwide. But only limited rigorous evidence is available on the model’s effectiveness, especially in advanced economies. MDRC is evaluating Grameen America, a program that provides small loans to groups of low-income women in the U.S. using a model designed by Nobe...

Steps to Upward Mobility: Lessons from Three Youth Employment Programs

March 06, 2019 19:01 - 5 minutes - 7.32 MB

One out of every 10 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 is neither working nor in school. These “disconnected” young people face an uphill battle finding work and are at risk of economic hardship well into adulthood. Although there are many programs that aim to reconnect young people to education and employment, findings from evaluations of these programs have been mixed. The evidence base has grown substantially in the past several months, though, as studies of three pro­grams — Yout...

How to Improve College Placement Using Multiple Measures

January 11, 2019 21:45 - 10 minutes - 14.1 MB

Students who are placed into developmental (remedial) courses often fail to complete them, and many colleges and states are therefore interested in reforming developmental education. But what if students are not accurately placed into developmental courses in the first place? What if some of the students placed into developmental courses could have succeeded in college-level courses? Research suggests that standardized tests — the traditional method for placing students — actually does mispl...

After the Hurricane: Youth Employment in Puerto Rico

November 15, 2018 16:23 - 5 minutes - 8.09 MB

How should policymakers address the long-standing youth unemployment problem in Puerto Rico, which only worsened in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria? With support from the W. T. Grant Foundation, MDRC partnered with Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud, or the Youth Development Institute, to develop recommendations that can create pathways into the workforce for young people and that are supported by evidence-based and promising practices relevant to the current situation in Puerto R...

CareerWise Colorado: A Modern Youth Apprenticeship Model

October 11, 2018 20:08 - 10 minutes - 14.9 MB

Career and technical education programs have taken on many different forms, but one that has been gaining in popularity is apprenticeships. Join Katie Beal as she talks to Noel Ginsberg, CEO of CareerWise Colorado, and Gretchen Morgan, former president of CareerWise Colorado, about the initiative that seeks to enlist hundreds of employers from many sectors to employ thousands of high school students in the nation’s first large-scale youth apprenticeship program. MDRC is currently working wit...

Career and Technical Education: Past, Present, and Future

September 04, 2018 19:02 - 10 minutes - 15 MB

This summer Congress passed the long-awaited reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which governs the federal investment in career and technical education (CTE). But what do CTE programs actually do? And how have they evolved over time? Join Katie Beal as she talks to Mary Visher, a senior research associate at MDRC, about CTE programs — including their development and challenges. They also discuss MDRC’s two-decade history of constructing and evaluating...

Improving Children’s Math Skills

July 12, 2018 21:14 - 8 minutes - 11.5 MB

Early math ability is one of the best predictors of children’s math and reading skills into late elementary school. Children with stronger math proficiency in elementary school are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. But most early childhood programs don’t focus on math instruction. What kinds of math programs can improve children’s early math abilities? And can they lead to positive impacts for other longer-term outcomes? The Making Pre-K Count and High 5s demonst...

Predicting Risk in Social Service and Education Programs

May 15, 2018 14:27 - 9 minutes - 8.42 MB

Social service and education programs aim to help the people they serve achieve positive outcomes (for example, completing a degree or getting a job). But some participants still don’t succeed. Could predicting who is more at risk of not meeting important milestones allow programs to intervene with supports for those who most need them? Predictive analytics is a tool that can help programs use existing data to make predictions of risk for their clients. Program staff can identify milestone...

Enhancing College Promise Programs to Support Student Success

September 06, 2017 20:45 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MB

College Promise is a widespread college access movement in the United States, with more than 200 programs across the country. Although these programs help students access college by covering the cost of tuition and fees, they do not typically address barriers to student success. The Detroit Promise Path, administered by the Detroit Regional Chamber, is a program that allows high school graduates to attend local colleges tuition-free and provides evidence-based support strategies to student...

Lessons on Making School Choice Easier for Families

September 01, 2017 14:03 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MB

School choice can be an arduous process and can prove especially challenging for low-income or recent-immigrant families. Offering supports, simplifying the process, and personalizing information, among other things, can help families navigate decisions about school choice. In this podcast, MDRC researcher Barbara Condliffe considers how lessons from other policy arenas can help improve school choice process.