MDRC Publications

Report
Expanding TANF Program Insights
A Toolkit for State and Local Agencies on How to Access, Link, and Analyze Unemployment Insurance Wage Data
November, 2022
Edith Yang, Sharon Zanti, T.C. Burnett, Richard Hendra, Dennis Culhane, Zarni Htet, Della Jenkins, Camille Préel-Dumas, Electra Small
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies are increasingly focused on using administrative data to assess how well programs are working and to inform policies and best practices. This toolkit was created to help TANF professionals develop more robust practices using employment data for program monitoring, reporting, and evaluation.
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Methodology
The Value of Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning to Predict Social Service Milestones
Lessons Learned from Career Pathways and Child First
October, 2022
Samantha Xia, Camille Préel-Dumas, Kristin Porter
Social services programs are increasingly looking to forecast which participants are likely to reach major milestones. Some explore advanced predictive modeling, but the Center for Data Insights (CDI) has found that such methods come with trade-offs. This post outlines CDI’s approach to predictive analytics, using illustrations from two studies.
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