At the forefront of debates about early childhood education policy is a focus on raising the quality of learning environments in community-based centers and schools as a means of promoting child development, particularly for low-income children and children of color.
New York
The Impacts of Making Pre-K Count and High 5s on Kindergarten Outcomes
March, 2018
This project tested whether high-quality, aligned math instruction, via an evidence-based curriculum in pre-K and innovative math clubs in kindergarten, could improve children’s outcomes. The effect of two years of enriched math translates into closing more than a quarter of the achievement gap between low-income children and their higher-income peers.
The Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP) project is a three-year nationwide program that provides education and employment services to young people ages 14-25 who are homeless or “systems-involved” — that is, young people who are aging out of the foster care system or who are otherwise involved in the child welfare, criminal justice, or j
Promising Strategies from a Donor Collaborative
January, 2018
The NYC Change Capital Fund is a formal consortium of donors investing in community organizations with the dual objective of helping build their data capacity and encouraging ambitious program goals. This brief offers insights on the effective operation of a donor collaborative, from managing democratic governance to setting clear expectations.
Launching the Drive to Write Program
January, 2018
How do schools encourage students to write more and teachers to offer more comments on student writing? How can schools use technology more effectively to support this shift in instruction? What makes achieving both of these goals difficult? The Drive to Write program tackles these challenges.
Lessons from the BIAS Project
January, 2018
The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project launched an intervention in California to engage families in a welfare-to-work program and another intervention in New York to encourage low-income single adults without dependent children to attend a meeting about an earnings supplement program intended to provide an incentive to work.
The Effects of the City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs After Six Years
October, 2017
The City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) is an uncommonly comprehensive and long-term program shown to raise graduation rates among community college students. Following up after six years, MDRC finds that ASAP increases graduation rates and enables some students to earn their degrees sooner.
October, 2017
In September 2017, MDRC released interim findings from the Paycheck Plus demonstration and evaluation of an enhanced Earned Income Tax Credit for low-wage workers without dependent children in New York City. Here are a few answers to questions we’ve received about the results.
Three-Year Impacts from the WorkAdvance Demonstration
September, 2017
WorkAdvance offers training and placement services to help prepare individuals for quality jobs in sectors that have strong local demand and advancement opportunities. In this update on employment and earnings only, the most experienced provider continued to produce substantial impacts on both; one other provider increased earnings for late enrollees.
Final Results from the Family Self-Sufficiency Study in New York City
September, 2017
FSS provides case management services and a long-term escrow-savings account to housing-assisted families; an enhanced version also offered short-term cash work incentives. Six-year results of the random assignment evaluation show few significant effects overall for either program. However, the enhanced program increased employment and earnings for participants not working at enrollment.