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Eight Steps to Full Enrollment
The June post for MDRC’s operations web series, In Practice: Lessons for and from Practitioners, features eight steps to recruiting new participants in community improvement programs. MDRC field liaisons highlight tailored tips and practical advice to help staff members enroll new participants and maximize the full capacity of their programs.
Introducing the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Project
Procedural justice centers on the idea that individuals’ perception of the fairness of a process determines how they respond to it. In this random assignment demonstration, child support programs are applying this principle to reframe their work with families as a respectful, problem-solving endeavor.
A Q&A with MDRC Vice President Virginia Knox
Ramon Robinson of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management interviewed MDRC Vice President Virginia Knox about the role of mixed-methods research in evaluating social programs and about her vision for the methodology.
In a new feature — Where Are They Now? — Delia Kimbrel, Director of Research and Analysis at ImpactTulsa, reflects on her experience as a doctoral fellow in MDRC’s Judith Gueron Fund Minority Scholars Program and what it meant for her career.
Lessons on Advancing Latino Success from California’s LATIDO Project
Latinos are California’s fastest growing population, but less than one in four earn a college degree. A new study from the Latino Academic Transfer and Institutional Degree Opportunities (LATIDO) project examines how five California Hispanic Serving Institutions are working to improve the college achievement rate of this community.
Final Report on Aid Like A Paycheck
This study, implemented at two community college systems in Texas and one in California, tested whether biweekly disbursements of financial aid rather than lump sum payments could help students budget more efficiently and improve their academic and financial outcomes. Overall, this approach did not have substantial impacts on student outcomes.
As an alternative to random assignment, a regression discontinuity design takes advantage of situations where program eligibility is determined by whether a score exceeds a threshold. With careful attention to assumptions, analysis, and interpretation, this quasi-experimental design can provide rigorous estimates of program effects. Reflections on Methodology outlines some considerations.
A central element of effective social programs is reaching the target population. Establishing clear and achievable enrollment benchmarks can help programs do just that. This post uses the example of enrollment to establish specific steps that can help practitioners meet benchmarks that are realistic, well-defined, and robust.
Using Behavioral Science to Identify Barriers to Credit Intensity and Satisfactory Academic Progress
Taking enough credits and passing enough classes are key requirements for college success. But behavioral and institutional barriers often get in the way. A new report from MDRC shows how behavioral science can expose these barriers and help colleges move their students past the finish line to graduation.
Interim Findings from the Detroit Promise Path Evaluation
The Detroit Promise allows the city’s high school graduates to attend local colleges tuition-free. To that scholarship the Detroit Promise Path adds campus coaches, monthly financial support, enhanced summer engagement, and messages informed by behavioral science. Interim findings about persistence in school, full-time enrollment, and credit accumulation are all positive.
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