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Implementation and Second-Year Impacts for New Deal 25 Plus Customers in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions
2008. Cynthia Miller, Helen Bewley, Verity Campbell-Barr, Richard Dorsett, Gayle Hamilton, Lesley Hoggart, Tatiana Homonoff, Alan Marsh, Kathryn Ray, James A. Riccio, and Sandra Vegeris.
This report published by the UK Department for Work and Pensions presents new findings on the effects of a program to help long-term unemployed individuals who receive government benefits in Great Britain and participate in a welfare-to-work program, New Deal 25 Plus, retain jobs and advance in the labor market.
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Designing a Marriage Education Demonstration and Evaluation for Low-Income Married Couples
Working Paper
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2008. Virginia Knox and David Fein.
This working paper introduces the Supporting Healthy Marriage evaluation, the first large-scale, multisite experiment that is testing voluntary marriage education programs for low-income married couples with children in eight sites across the country. The year-long programs consist of a series of marriage education workshops with additional family support services and referrals.
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A Comparison of Two Job Club Strategies
The Effects of Enhanced Versus Traditional Job Clubs in Los Angeles
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2008. David Navarro, Gilda Azurdia, and Gayle Hamilton.
This report, from the Employment Retention and Advancement Project, finds that unemployed welfare recipients in an enhanced job club had no better employment outcomes than participants in a traditional job club. At the end of the 18-month follow-up period, about half of both groups were employed.
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National High School Center Publishes Briefs for Practitioners by MDRC Experts
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The National High School Center has just released a set of briefs, authored by MDRC consultants Michael Bangser and Thomas J. Smith, that examine what is known about educational interventions that help students prepare for postsecondary education and employment.
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New Hope for the Working Poor
Effects After Eight Years for Families and Children
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2008. Cynthia Miller, Aletha C. Huston, Greg J. Duncan, Vonnie C. McLoyd, and Thomas S. Weisner.
Implemented in 1994 in Milwaukee, New Hope provided full-time, low-wage workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. A random assignment study shows positive effects for both adults and children, some of which persisted five years after the program ended.
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Empirical Issues in the Design of Group-Randomized Studies to Measure the Effects of Interventions for Children
Working Paper
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2008. Howard Bloom, Pei Zhu, Robin Jacob, Stephen Raudenbush, Andres Martinez, and Fen Lin.
This MDRC working paper on research methodology provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing studies that randomize groups to measure the impacts of interventions on children.
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Career Academies
Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood
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2008. James J. Kemple with Cynthia J. Willner.
Eight-year findings on Career Academies — a popular high school reform that combines academics with career development opportunities — show that the programs produced sustained employment and earnings gains, particularly among young men. Career Academy participants were also more likely to be living independently with children and a spouse or a partner.
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The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs
Findings After the First Year of Implementation
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U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance
2008. Alison Rebeck Black, Fred Doolittle, Pei Zhu, Rebecca Unterman, and Jean Baldwin Grossman
This report presents one-year implementation and impact findings on two supplemental academic instruction approaches developed for after-school settings — one for math and one for reading. Compared with regular after-school programming, the supplemental math program had impacts on student SAT 10 test scores and the supplemental reading program did not — although the reading program had some effect on reading fluency.
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Welfare Time Limits
An Update on State Policies, Implementation, and Effects on Families
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Published with the Lewin Group.
2008. Mary Farrell, Sarah Rich, Lesley Turner, David Seith, and Dan Bloom.
One of the most controversial features of the 1990s welfare reforms was the imposition of time limits on benefit receipt. This comprehensive review, written by The Lewin Group and MDRC, includes analyses of administrative data reported by states to the federal government, visits to several states, and a literature review.
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Helping Community College Students Cope with Financial Emergencies
Lessons from the Dreamkeepers and Angel Fund Emergency Financial Aid Programs
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2008. Christian Geckeler with Carrie Beach, Michael Pih, and Leo Yan.
For low-income students, education can be easily derailed by a temporary financial emergency, like the loss of a job or a car repair. This final report offers lessons from two programs created by Lumina Foundation for Education that provide emergency grants or loans to help students at risk of dropping out. Eleven community colleges participated in Dreamkeepers, and 26 tribal colleges or universities participated in Angel Fund.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Valuing Individual Success and Increasing Opportunities Now (VISION) Program in Salem, Oregon
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2008. Frieda Molina, Wan-Lae Cheng, and Richard Hendra.
A program to promote better initial job placements, employment retention, and advancement among unemployed applicants to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program faced implementation challenges and had no employment-related impacts after one year of follow-up.
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Reading First Impact Study
Interim Report
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U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance
2008. Beth C. Gamse, Howard S. Bloom, James J. Kemple, and Robin Tepper Jacob.
This report, written by Abt Associates and MDRC and published by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, finds that Reading First increased the amount of time that teachers spent on the five essential components of reading instruction, as defined by the National Reading Panel. While Reading First did not improve students' reading comprehension on average, there are some indications that some sites had impacts on both instruction and reading comprehension. An overview puts these interim findings in context.
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The Learning Communities Demonstration
Rationale, Sites, and Research Design
Working Paper
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Published with the National Center for Postsecondary Research
2008. Mary G. Visher, Heather Wathington, Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, and Emily Schneider,with Oscar Cerna, Christine Sansone, and Michelle Ware.
Launched in 2007 by MDRC and the National Center for Postsecondary Research, the Learning Communities Demonstration is testing models of this promising approach in six community colleges in five states. This report describes the research design, including information about the colleges and their models, the random assignment process, data sources, analysis plans, and reporting schedule.
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Implementation and Second-Year Impacts for Lone Parents in the UK Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Demonstration
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UK Department for Work and Pensions
2008. James A. Riccio, Helen Bewley, Verity Campbell-Barr, Richard Dorsett, Gayle Hamilton, Lesley Hoggart, Alan Marsh, Cynthia Miller, Kathryn Ray, and Sandra Vegeris.
This report presents new and positive findings on the effects of Britain’s Employment Retention and Advancement demonstration. After two years, the program increased employment and earnings for single-parent participants. ERA offered a combination of job coaching and financial incentives to encourage low-income individuals to sustain employment and progress in work.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from Two Education and Training Models for Employed Welfare Recipients in Riverside, California
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2007. David Navarro, Stephen Freedman, and Gayle Hamilton.
Two education and training programs for employed, single-parent welfare recipients had small impacts on attendance in basic education or training overall but had larger impacts for disadvantaged groups. However, over two years, neither program increased employment and earnings levels overall or for any subgroup.
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A Good Start
Two-Year Effects of a Freshmen Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College
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2008. Susan Scrivener, Dan Bloom, Allen LeBlanc, Christina Paxson, Cecilia Elena Rouse, and Colleen Sommo, with Jenny Au, Jedediah J. Teres, and Susan Yeh.
Freshmen in a “learning community” at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, moved more quickly through developmental English requirements, took and passed more courses, and earned more credits in their first semester than students in a control group. Two years later, they were also somewhat more likely to be enrolled in college.
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New Hope’s Eight-Year Impacts on Employment and Family Income
Working Paper
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2008. Greg Duncan, Cynthia Miller, Amy Classens, Mimi Engel, Heather Hill, and Constance Lindsay.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the program’s impacts on employment and earnings, as well as on family income and poverty, up to eight years beyond the point of random assignment.
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New Hope’s Effects on Children’s Future Orientation and Employment Experiences
Working Paper
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2008. Vonnie C. McLoyd, Rachel Kaplan, and Kelly M. Purtell.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the program’s impacts on children’s future orientation and employment experiences eight years after random assignment.
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Long-Term Effects of New Hope on Children’s Academic Achievement and Achievement Motivation
Working Paper
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2008. Aletha C. Huston, Jessica Thornton Walker, Chantelle J. Dowsett, Amy E. Imes, and Angelica Ware.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the effects of New Hope on children’s academic achievement and achievement motivation eight years after random assignment.
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New Hope’s Effects on Social Behavior, Parenting, and Activities at Eight Years
Working Paper
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2008. Aletha C. Huston, Anjali E. Gupta, Alison C. Bentley, Chantelle Dowsett, Angelica Ware, and Sylvia R. Epps.
Implemented in 1994, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits for three years: an earnings supplement, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. This working paper examines the effects of New Hope on children’s social behavior, parent-child relationships, and participation in out-of-school activities eight years after random assignment.
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Helping Low-Wage Workers Persist in Education Programs
Lessons from Research on Welfare Training Programs and Two Promising Community College Strategies
Working Paper
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2008. Lashawn Richburg-Hayes.
This working paper, prepared for a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, reviews what is known about education acquisition by low-wage workers and highlights promising strategies being tested at several community colleges.
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The Enhanced Reading Opportunities Study
Early Impact and Implementation Findings
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U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance
2008. James J. Kemple, William Corrin, Elizabeth Nelson, Terry Salinger, Suzannah Herrmann, and Kathryn Drummond
This report presents early findings from a demonstration and random assignment evaluation of two supplemental literacy programs that aim to improve the reading comprehension skills and school performance of struggling ninth-grade readers. On average, the programs produced a positive, statistically significant impact on reading comprehension among students.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Impacts for Portland's Career Builders Program
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2008. Gilda Azurdia and Zakia Barnes.
A program in Portland, Oregon, to remove employment barriers and assist with job placement and employment retention and advancement for welfare applicants and recipients was never fully implemented and, not surprisingly, had no any effects on employment, earnings, or receipt of public assistance.
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Preparing High School Students for Successful Transitions to Postsecondary Education and Employment
Policy Brief
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National High School Center.
2008. Michael Bangser.
This issue brief, published by the National High School Center, highlights lessons from selected policies and programs designed to improve students’ preparation for life after high school.
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Striking the Balance
Career Academies Combine Academic Rigor and Workplace Relevance
Policy Brief
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National High School Center.
2008. Thomas J. Smith.
This “snapshot,” published by the National High School Center, takes a close look at implementation of the Career Academy model in one high school in Oakland, California.
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Evaluating the Impact of Interventions That Promote Successful Transitions from High School
Policy Brief
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National High School Center.
2008. Michael Bangser.
This research brief, published by the National High School Center, examines the challenges and opportunities presented in evaluating whether an intervention achieves defined goals of increasing students’ educational attainment, employment, and earnings after high school.
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Instructional Leadership, Teaching Quality, and Student Achievement
Suggestive Evidence from Three Urban School Districts
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2007. Janet C. Quint, Theresa M. Akey, Shelley Rappaport, and Cynthia J. Willner.
Does providing instruction-related professional development to school principals set in motion a chain of events that can improve teaching and learning in their schools? This report examines professional development efforts by the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Learning in elementary schools in Austin, St. Paul, and New York City.
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Transitional Jobs for Ex-Prisoners
Early Impacts from a Random Assignment Evaluation of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Prisoner Reentry Program
Working Paper
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2007. Dan Bloom, Cindy Redcross, Janine Zweig (Urban Institute), and Gilda Azurdia.
After one year, CEO’s transitional jobs program generated a large but short-lived increase in employment for ex-prisoners. A subgroup of recently released prisoners showed positive effects on recidivism: They were less likely to have their parole revoked, to be convicted of a felony, and to be reincarcerated than the control group.
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Four Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Employment
An Introduction to the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project
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2007. Dan Bloom, Cindy Redcross, JoAnn Hsueh, Sarah Rich, and Vanessa Martin.
This demonstration is evaluating four diverse strategies designed to improve employment and other outcomes for low-income parents and others who face serious barriers to employment.
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Experimentation and Social Welfare Policymaking in the United States
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2007. Gordon L. Berlin
In a speech given at a conference sponsored by the French government on the role of experimental studies in reducing poverty, MDRC President Gordon Berlin described how the results of random assignment studies have acted as powerful levers for changing social policy in the United States.
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The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
Results from the Personal Roads to Individual Development and Employment (PRIDE) Program in New York City
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2007. Dan Bloom, Cynthia Miller, and Gilda Azurdia.
A random assignment study of a welfare-to-work program for recipients with work-limiting medical and mental health conditions shows that participants had increased employment and decreased welfare payments.
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From Getting By to Getting Ahead
Navigating Career Advancement for Low-Wage Workers
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2007. Betsy L. Tessler and David Seith.
This report, from MDRC’s Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC) demonstration, explores how WASC career coaches help low-wage workers understand the complex interactions between earnings and eligibility for work support programs and guide them to make the best advancement decisions possible.
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2008
