About MDRC
Stanley Dai is a technical research analyst in MDRC’s Postsecondary Education policy area, with a focus on evaluations of programs that provide comprehensive supports to low-income students. Previous projects include THE-RCT, Text Ed, the evaluation of Detroit Promise Path, and the Multiple Measures Assessment project. Dai currently serves as both the data manager and operations lead on Part-Time SAIL, an evaluation aimed at part-time community college students to increase their graduation rates, and ASAP-Westchester, an evaluation that attempts to replicate the findings of the City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) at Westchester Community College. Dai also provides technical assistance on management information systems to colleges as a part of the SUCCESS project, as well as monitors data management best practices for all on-going projects within MDRC’s Postsecondary Education policy area. Dai holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Georgetown University.
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MDRC Publications
BriefPromising Interim Findings from the Viking ROADS Randomized Controlled Trial
November, 2022In community colleges nationwide, underrepresented students and students from families with low incomes face many barriers to academic success. In 2018, Westchester Community College in New York State launched Viking ROADS to help students overcome those obstacles. Despite the pandemic, the program had positive effects on enrollment and credits earned.
Issue FocusOctober, 2022The Detroit Promise Path combines a tuition-free scholarship with additional forms of support, such as a campus coach and personalized communications, to keep students on track to graduate. After four years, the program helped students stay enrolled in school but had no impact on degrees earned.
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Other Publications
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Projects
Michael J. Weiss, John Diamond, Austin Slaughter, Tiffany Morton, Colin Hill, Makoto Toyoda, Stanley DaiFor The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trial project ( THE - RCT ), MDRC has created the largest individual-participant database from higher education randomized controlled trials to date. THE - RCT makes standardized, deidentified data from more than 25 studies covering 50 institutions of higher education and 65,000 students securely available to...
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 DaiMDRC ’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...
Dan Cullinan, Rashida Welbeck, Alyssa Ratledge, Tiffany Morton, Erika B. Lewy, Dorota Biedzio Rizik, Stanley DaiCollege students who place into developmental (remedial) education are substantially less likely to graduate than students who place into college-level courses. Most students are directed into developmental courses based on placement test scores. But large-scale studies have indicated that these test scores misplace substantial numbers of students — in other words, for...
Alexander Mayer, David Navarro, Caitlin Anzelone, Evan Weissman, Dan Cullinan, Elena Serna-Wallender, Stanley Dai, Sumner PereraThe college enrollment process is complex and includes many steps. Recent research has shown that short, action-oriented text messages can help people focus on critical tasks at the right times. Building on this promising research, the Text Ed project will develop and test a strategic text messaging intervention at Educational Opportunity Centers ( EOC s). One of eight...
College Promise is the latest college-access movement in the United States. With more than 300 programs across the nation, College Promise is pushing forward national conversations about college access and affordability. College Promise programs typically cover college tuition and fees for students in a particular geographic area. Some programs help students from a...