Counseling/Advising

Report

Effects of a Community College Program for Probationary Students

April, 2009
Susan Scrivener, Colleen Sommo, Herbert Collado

Rates of graduation and degree completion at community colleges remain distressingly low. This report evaluates two versions of a program designed to help probationary students at community college succeed in school. One version increased the average number of credits earned, the proportion of students who earned a grade point average of “C” or higher, and the proportion who moved off probation.

Report

Navigating Career Advancement for Low-Wage Workers

October, 2007
Betsy L. Tessler, 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.

Report

Creating the Conditions and Capacity for Community-Wide Reform in an Urban School District

November, 2002
Michelle Alberti Gambone, Adena M. Klem, William P. Moore, Jean Ann Summers

Take a look inside the Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) public schools and you will find challenges facing any urban district: insufficient funding, large numbers of at-risk students, declining enrollment and teacher shortages. You will also see teachers working in teams and staying with their students for more than one year, lower ratios of students to teachers in key classes and extra time built into the day for professional development.

Report

Early Results from the Opening Doors Demonstration in Ohio

April, 2007
Susan Scrivener, Michael Pih

This report presents the early results from MDRC’s evaluation of the Opening Doors program at Owens Community College in Toledo, Ohio. The two-semester program offered intensive student advising services and a modest scholarship to low-income students to encourage them to stay in school and earn credentials.

Report

Early Results from the Opening Doors Demonstration in Ohio

April, 2007
Susan Scrivener, Jenny Au

This report describes early results from MDRC’s evaluation of the Opening Doors program at Lorain Country Community College in Elyria, Ohio. The program provided enhanced student services and a modest scholarship to low-income students to encourage them to stay in school and earn credentials.

Working Paper
August, 2008
Virginia Knox, 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.

Report

The Effect of Project GRAD on Elementary School
Student Outcomes in Four Urban Districts

July, 2006
Jason Snipes, Glee Ivory Holton, Fred Doolittle

This report describes the effects of Project GRAD, an ambitious education reform that targets high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed into them, on student test scores in elementary schools in Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; and Newark, New Jersey.

Report

Instructional Innovations That Help Low-Income Students Succeed in Community College

July, 2003
Richard Kazis, Marty Liebowitz

This paper looks at curricular and program redesign strategies currently used by community colleges to speed nontraditional students’ advancement from lower levels of skill into credential programs and to shorten the time commitment required to earn a credential.

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