About MDRC
Avila works in a variety of roles at MDRC: as a data analyst, processing and analyzing quantitative data for the Success for All Middle School (SFA) Math Program; as an implementation analyst, leading site visits and coding and analyzing data for SFA Math and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Behavior; and as an operations analyst, leading recruitment efforts and serving as a site liaison for Next Generation California Partnership Academies. He has also contributed to writing MDRC reports and translated MDRC surveys and consent forms into Spanish. Before joining MDRC, Avila worked as a research assistant at the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. He holds an MA in sociology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BA in Chicana/o studies from California State University, Long Beach.
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MDRC Publications
BriefYouth Perspectives on Navigating Homelessness and the Labor Market
November, 2022Young adults facing homelessness are a growing demographic. Covenant House is a nonprofit organization that provides housing and supportive services for young people facing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking. MDRC and Covenant House partnered to explore the perspectives and experiences of those young people as they navigate the workforce.
ReportResults of a Qualitative Study Exploring the Perspectives of Children and Their Parents
July, 2022Some 10.5 million children in this country live in poverty, yet little is known about how they and their families view their daily experiences of poverty. In this report, children, adolescents, and their parents who participate in social safety net programs discuss their perceptions of poverty, wealth, and economic inequality.
ReportDecember, 2019This report evaluates an early education program aimed at providing high-quality language and literacy instruction to children in underserved communities. The report examines how services delivered by senior volunteers enhanced preschoolers’ experiences in the classroom and whether this program model shows promise for improving children’s literacy and social-emotional development.
ReportA Report from the Investing in Innovation (i3) Evaluation
June, 2017PowerTeaching emphasizes cooperative learning to instruct middle school math and has shown strong evidence of effectiveness. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education funded an effort to scale up the program, and in 2012 MDRC began a multiyear evaluation of it. This report describes the evaluation and presents its findings.
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Other Publications
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Projects
Covenant House provides housing and supportive services for young people facing homelessness and for survivors of human trafficking in 33 cities in six countries. It implements programs designed to empower young people to overcome adversity and strives to deliver services with unconditional love, absolute respect, and relentless support. Each Covenant House location...
Sarah Picard, Michelle S. Manno, Douglas Phillips, Osvaldo Avila, Emily Brennan, Rae Walker, Raul Armenta, Jayce Helpley, Gabriel Weinberger, Megan Schwartz, Anna KylerLos Angeles County has the country’s largest jail and probation system, resulting in the need for a robust support system for individuals reintegrating into the community following a period of incarceration or supervision. In response, and with funding from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act (Proposition 47) and California Community Corrections Performance...
Jumpstart is a national early education organization with a commitment to enriching the learning experiences of children from underserved communities. Since 1993, teams of volunteers have delivered Jumpstart’s research-based curriculum, which is designed to improve children’s language and literacy skills and social-emotional development. The program is characterized by...
Colleen Sommo, Alexander Mayer, Alyssa Ratledge, Michelle Ware, Osvaldo Avila, Katie Beal, Melissa Wavelet, Leigh Parise, Colin Hill, Rae Walker, Austin Slaughter, Hannah Dalporto, Elena Serna-Wallender, Stanley Dai, Parker Cellura, Kayla WarnerMDRC ’s Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success ( SUCCESS ) seeks to improve graduation rates for traditionally underserved students at two- and four-year colleges, by helping states and institutions align their resources with evidence-driven practices. SUCCESS combines components from multiple programs that have proven themselves to be effective at...
Megan Millenky, Dan Bloom, Susan Scrivener, Charles Michalopoulos, Dina A. R. Israel, Johanna Walter, Lauren Cates, Sally Dai, Caroline Mage, Emily Marano, Viktoriya Syrov, Douglas Phillips, Kyla Wasserman, Lily Freedman, Osvaldo Avila, Emily Brennan, Jillian Verrillo, Gilda Azurdia, Frieda Molina, Shelley Rappaport, Clinton Key, Nandita Verma, Cynthia Miller, Jared Smith, Shawna Anderson, Kelsey Schaberg, Caitlin Anzelone, James A. Riccio, Keri West, Caroline Schultz, Ethan Feldman, Gabriel WeinbergerMany Americans struggle in the labor market even when overall economic conditions are good. Unemployment is persistently high for some demographic groups and in certain geographic areas, and a large proportion of working-age adults — about two in five in 2019 — tend to be out of the labor force. Factors such as systemic racism embedded in the economy and...
The transition from high school into postsecondary education and a career has become particularly challenging given today’s complex, fast-moving, and highly technological economy. Even as the national high school graduation rate has improved over the past two decades and many states have raised their graduation requirements, high school graduates without postsecondary...
Fred Doolittle, Mark van Dok, Pei Zhu, Barbara Condliffe, Sonia Drohojowska, Emma Alterman, Osvaldo Avila, Jedediah J. Teres, Hannah PowerToo often, elementary school students lack the behavioral and social skills necessary to focus on academics and achieve in school. Without proper support, teachers inevitably spend far too much time managing their students’ behavior and too little time actually teaching. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Behavior ( MTSS -B) is not a specific model but a compilation...
Middle school is a crucial stage for math instruction because students must master the context needed for more advanced high school math. But middle school math achievement has been difficult to improve. While the mathematics performance of American students has improved in recent years it still remains unimpressive by international standards, and the steep decline in...