MDRC

Excited to share that I’ll be presenting at the DREAM Conference hosted by Achieving the Dream in Portland next week! Join my colleague Makoto and I for our presentation titled “Cutting Edge Research in Rural Community Colleges” on Thursday, March 5 at 9:00 AM. We’ll share about the National Rural Higher Education Research Center’s work on dual enrollment, college access, and completion, plus practical insights for serving rural students. Hope to see you there!

As we close out February and #CTEmonth, I wanted to share a few thoughts: 1) Interest in CTE and career-connected education has the potential to benefit us all, most importantly our youth & economy 2) Policy exuberance around CTE may increase access and help meet workforce needs, but it also runs the risk of diluting quality, incentivizing rent-seeking, and undermining longer-term value 3) We have evidence of what works & more policymakers should build from this evidence. Federal investments like projects through the IES-funded CTE Research Network 2.0 and those funded by a mix of foundations, Federal grants, and long-term commitments to research at universities like our multi-state CTE Georgia Policy Labs — Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and work by Rachel Rosen w/ MDRC or Julie Edmunds or The Research Alliance for New York City Schools the Tennessee Education Research Alliance the Annenberg Institute at Brown University 4) Investing in CTE means preparing students for postsecondary training and employment, and so requires sustained investment in college access and funding 5) Celebrating the value of multiple pathways and destigmatizing some is a long-game & wont' be accomplished in short-term shifts in policy. If you need access to reports, want briefs, or have questions about the evidence, please reach out to me, or let me know how I can connect you to the experts linked above as well as the many others I did not tag

As schools review student achievement data this spring, one question really matters: what actually accelerates learning? One intervention with rigorous evidence behind it is high-dosage tutoring, when it’s designed and implemented well. In New Mexico, Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI) virtual tutoring was delivered: 🔸 During the school day 🔸 In small groups 🔸 Aligned with classroom instruction The results: 📊 Students attended an average of 64 sessions 📈 They experienced 38% more math learning — roughly 3.5 additional months of learning Implementation mattered. More Tutoring Lessons from New Mexico (lead author Rachel McCormick on behalf of MDRC) highlights why participation was strong: in-school scheduling, leadership alignment, and operational clarity. MC² also led recruitment and field operations as part of this multi-partner evaluation conducted by University of Chicago Urban Labs, alongside MDRC and other collaborators. For schools considering tutoring next year, the takeaway isn’t just “add tutoring.” It’s that design and integration determine impact. 🔗 Read More - https://lnkd.in/gF7xeEfQ #EducationResearch #HighDosageTutoring #EvidenceBasedPractice #MCSquaredEducation

New findings from MDRC's evaluation of small public high schools in NYC show remarkable effects on postsecondary access and success for a large-scale secondary school reform: ⭐ 9.5 percentage point increase in postsecondary enrollment ⭐ 2.5 percentage point increase in college degree attainment Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ev3BXj82

How can workforce training providers improve program enrollment and retention? This MDRC case study shows how Brooklyn Workforce Innovations used data and participant feedback to redesign outreach and application communications and includes practical lessons for providers and funders. Click the link to learn more. https://bit.ly/49QbBfr #AscendiumEP #LearningandImpact #WorkforceTraining

Race to the Top changed state education policy. Could the same mechanism modernize high school around career-connected learning? Last spring, in American Educator, Bob Schwartz and I argued that career-connected learning—integrating work-based learning, postsecondary credit attainment, and structured advising—should move from the margins of the high school experience into the core architecture of high school. Now, I’m reflecting on the policy mechanisms required to get us there. The evidence base for career-connected learning is strong. MDRC’s evaluation of career academies found sustained earnings gains. Rigorous studies of dual enrollment show higher college enrollment and persistence. Employer-connected learning improves graduation and postsecondary transitions, particularly for students without professional networks. Yet access remains uneven and structurally fragmented. In many states, work-based learning is siloed within CTE pathways, dual enrollment participation varies sharply by income, school counselor ratios exceed 400:1, and student data is incomplete or opaque. The problem isn’t proof of concept. It’s policy architecture. Existing federal funding streams provide flexibility, but they don’t incentivize structural integration of career-connected learning into graduation pathways, data and accountability systems, and cross-agency governance. Whatever you think of the outcomes, Race to the Top demonstrated that substantial, competitive federal grants tied to reform commitments can alter state behavior. Researchers found that even non-winning states revised their statutes to compete. The incentive design mattered. Universal career-connected learning isn't about turning high school into narrow job training. Done well, it strengthens academic engagement, increases postsecondary attainment, and expands opportunity. It connects learning to purpose. And if it is to become truly systemic, it will require strong federal leverage—substantial funding tied to state-level reform. Of course, quality execution will require deliberate, equitable design and support for educator-employer partnerships, but the complexity shouldn’t dissuade us. The question isn’t whether these strategies work on the margins. It’s whether we’re willing to invest in and integrate them into the system... What do you think?

How can workforce providers build more responsive support systems that help program participants persist and succeed? This case study from MDRC examines how JVS - Bay Area improved program completion by rethinking coaching and participant support. Using data and participant feedback, JVS redesigned how staff engage with learners — which resulted in stronger relationships and improved outcomes. Click the link to read more. https://bit.ly/4rcCVdp #AscendiumEP #Support #LearningandImpact #WorkforceTraining

Stanley S. Litow in The 74 Media: In 2010, New York City, along with the rest of the U.S., was struggling with how to cope with the disruptive and economically serious consequences of a challenging recession. Unemployment was spiking, economic opportunities declined and far too many Americans couldn’t afford housing, health care or the cost of a middle-class life. Does this sound familiar? It could describe what we are facing right now. But back then, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein approached IBM to see how the company might be able to assist. IBM was interested but made clear that it would not hire large numbers of young people with only a high school diploma — and neither would any other Fortune 500 company. Across nine entry-level job categories, in areas involving hardware, software and consulting, IBM needed people with degrees in subjects like computer science and electromechanical engineering, along with solid workplace skills. Bloomberg and Klein asked the company to outline what a partnership could look like, and IBM responded with a blueprint for what would ultimately become P-TECH schools. It would involve breaking down the barrier between high school and college, creating a dual-enrollment model where students would complete both a high school diploma and an associate degree in computer science or electromechanical engineering within four to six years. The company would provide volunteer mentors and paid internships, and ensure successful graduates were first in line for available positions. The initial P-TECH school, located in a distressed Brooklyn neighborhood, opened in fall 2011. Today, some 15 years later, there are more than 600 P-TECH schools in 16 cities and 28 countries, having graduated tens of thousands of low-income students. The original P-TECH school was recently named the No. 1 vocational high school in New York City based on its reading and math scores, even with a population that is 99% low-income students of color. This verified the findings of an earlier independent evaluation [by MDRC] that concluded Black male students who attended P-TECH were more likely to obtain a college degree than similar students attending other NYC high schools…. https://lnkd.in/e-gufJ_e

From Wesley Whistle of New America: Workforce Pell is moving from policy design to operational detail. The fiscal context is tightening, and the field is beginning to grapple with what it will actually take to make this work by July 1, 2026. Recent developments underscore something I’ve said before: #WorkforcePell is not just an aid expansion — it’s a systems change effort. It sits at the intersection of federal appropriations, state approval authority, institutional capacity, labor-market alignment, and student decision-making. Each of those pieces is now coming into sharper focus. Below, I walk through four pieces worth reading: ⭐ The Congressional Budget Office’s warning of an $11.5 billion Pell shortfall — and what that could mean for Workforce Pell. ⭐ New research and commentary [from MDRC and New America] on why career coaching may determine whether short-term Pell dollars actually translate into earnings gains. ⭐ A new federal funding opportunity that could shape implementation capacity. ⭐ Signals from the Department of Education that rollout remains on track. ⭐ And a thoughtful piece from Pew on how Workforce Pell may change how students choose nondegree credentials. The big takeaway? Implementation isn’t hypothetical anymore. The decisions being made right now — about funding, regulation, quality assurance, student supports, and state capacity — will determine whether Workforce Pell expands opportunity or simply reshuffles risk.... https://lnkd.in/e6-f_jMQ