This paper provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing studies that randomize groups to measure the impacts of educational interventions.
Publications
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Implementation Lessons from the Foundations of Learning Demonstration

Foundations of Learning provided in-class training and support to teachers, and one-on-one clinical services to children, to enhance preschool quality. This report offers lessons regarding program design, management, staffing, and professional development issues that arose during implementation in Newark, NJ.
The Employment Retention and Advancement Project
A program in Los Angeles offering individualized and flexible case management services to working welfare recipients did not substantially increase the use of work-based services by participants – and did not lead to greater employment or higher earnings than did the county’s existing postemployment program.
Will the Past Be Prologue?
In remarks given at a conference sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, MDRC President Gordon Berlin looks at the extraordinary challenges the current labor market presents to employment policy generally and WIA reauthorization specifically, outlines what we have (and haven’t) learned from research, and makes recommendations for future directions.
Testing Transitional Jobs and Pre-Employment Services in Philadelphia
Interim results from an evaluation of two different welfare-to-work strategies for long-term welfare recipients show that transitional jobs increase employment and earnings but that it is difficult to successfully engage participants in extensive pre-employment services.
Implementation and Early Impacts for Two Programs That Sought to Encourage Advancement Among Low-Income Workers
While these two different programs in the Employment Retention and Advancement Project both increased service receipt, neither had effects on job retention or advancement after 1.5 years of follow-up.
A Preview of Findings from the Foundations of Learning Demonstration
Early evaluation results from Newark, NJ, show that Foundations of Learning improved teachers’ classroom management and productivity, reduced children’s conflict with peers, and engaged students in the learning tasks of preschool. The intervention was implemented in Head Start programs, community-based child care centers, and public schools.
Early Results from a Telephone Care Management Program for Medicaid Recipients with Depression
Very early results from a random assignment study suggest that Working toward Wellness increased the use of mental health services and had mixed effects on depression severity. Impacts are concentrated among Hispanic participants.
Preliminary Analysis
This report presents a preliminary analysis of the cost of operating Britain’s Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) demonstration, which is being evaluated though a large-scale randomised control trial. This assessment of costs will become an important element of the full cost-benefit analysis to be presented in future ERA reports.
A Synthesis of Research

Most welfare programs seek to ensure that poor families have adequate income while at the same time encouraging self-sufficiency. Based on studies of 28 programs involving more than 100,000 sample members, this synthesis compares the costs, benefits, and returns on investment of six welfare program strategies – from the perspectives of participants, government budgets, and society as a whole.
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