About MDRC
Dalporto supports career and technical education work that spans MDRC’s K-12 Education, Postsecondary Education, and Low-Wage Workers policy areas, bringing her experience as both a qualitative researcher and operations specialist to that work. She currently leads the selection of community colleges for the New World of Work study, an examination of the 21st-century skills program of that name, and works in many capacities for the CareerWise Colorado study, which is exploring the implementation of an intensive apprenticeship program. Dalporto is also a site liaison for the MyGoals program, which delivers employment coaching informed by behavioral psychology (specifically findings related to executive functioning).
Previous projects include the WorkAdvance program, a career advancement demonstration of a sector-focused training model for adults, and Project Rise, an internship program for young adults attending high school equivalency classes. Dalporto holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MA in education from Hunter College. Before joining MDRC, Dalporto was a Fulbright grantee in Argentina and taught high school English in New York City.
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MDRC Publications
Issue FocusRapid Innovation and Ideas for the Future
September, 2020The pandemic has exacerbated postsecondary education issues in rural areas that have affected students and communities for decades, such as the lack of adequate broadband infrastructure. In response, educators are developing innovative strategies that may be applicable to all institutions, not just those with a preponderance of rural students.
Issue FocusAugust, 2020Many schools are using technology-based tools to generate career recommendations and supplement the capabilities of their guidance departments. MDRC has partnered with two technology companies to test whether their career-advising software programs are viable tools for equitably supporting students as they identify and pursue future careers.
Issue FocusJuly, 2020A recent (virtual) discussion with representatives of 13 schools, districts, and programs that provide work-based learning found each of them seizing unexpected opportunities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pivot from hands-on experiential learning to virtual instruction is varied and evolving at these organizations, which offer internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and other work-related programs.
BriefHow Community Colleges Are Advancing Equity in Career and Technical Education
April, 2020Community college career and technical education (CTE) can fill shortages in the labor market while providing a pathway to economic mobility. But can it do so equitably? In 2019, MDRC’s Center for Effective CTE conducted a scan of notable programs across the country to find out more.
BriefOctober, 2019Data can help career and technical education programs refine their models, pinpoint successes, and communicate lessons with funders and stakeholders. Drawing in part on conversations with leaders in the field, this brief outlines four steps programs can take to strengthen their data-collection and measurement activities and develop robust data strategies.
ReportImplementation of a Sector-Focused Career Advancement Model for Low-Skilled Adults
October, 2014The WorkAdvance program model aims to prepare individuals for good jobs in high-demand industries and to increase their prospects for staying employed and moving up. Participants receive career readiness and occupational skills training, job placement, and advancement coaching. This report looks at how four providers translated the model into workable programs.
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Other Publications
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Projects
Twenty-first-century skills (also known as noncognitive, employability, or soft skills) are increasingly viewed as essential for favorable outcomes in both education and employment. Yet employers consistently report that these abilities — such as working well with a team, problem-solving, and thriving in diverse work settings — are lacking in their employees and job...
James A. Riccio, Donna Wharton-Fields, Nina Castells, Stephanie Rubino, Keith Olejniczak, Joshua Vermette, Hannah DalportoMyGoals for Employment Success is a new workforce program intended to help recipients of federal housing subsidies who are not employed find work, build careers, and advance toward greater self-sufficiency. The program incorporates an innovative employment coaching model that is informed by current literature in behavioral psychology on executive functioning skills and...
Apprenticeship programs have been more limited in the United States than they have been in many European countries, both in the numbers of individuals and the number and type of employers who participate in them. Only a few thousand apprenticeship programs are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor and these are mostly in construction and trades. This situation...
Frieda Molina, Barbara S. Goldman, Richard Hendra, Betsy L. Tessler, Alexandra Pennington, Keith Olejniczak, Kelsey Schaberg, Hannah DalportoPast evaluations have provided solid evidence regarding what works to help low-income individuals become employed. However, these studies have also found that many people who found jobs were not better off financially, in part because these jobs were unstable, low paying, and provided few advancement opportunities. More recent randomized controlled evaluations of both...
In the United States, over six million young people are “disconnected” — neither in school nor working. Over a million of these disconnected young adults are between the ages of 18 and 24 years but lack either a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. These young adults’ limited education and work experience severely reduce their prospects for becoming...