MDRC's Equity Collaborative researched ways that MDRC can more fully measure equity both as a condition and an outcome within studies that are focused on education. They reviewed literature about ways that other researchers, including some in other fields, have approached these questions. The review suggests that most measures used in social…

Implementing institution-wide, systemic change is typically a long and often challenging task for college leaders to undertake. Because each institution is different, the combination of internal and external factors that drive institutional change can vary greatly from college to college, and from moment to moment. Achieving the Dream (ATD), which…

An investment in early childhood education pays off when the benefits continue into adulthood. Although many recent preschool interventions have had positive, short-term effects on young children's language, literacy, mathematics, executive function, and social-emotional development, studies show that related gains in cognitive and academic skills…

Increasingly, obtaining a job that pays family-sustaining wages means getting a college degree or other postsecondary credential. However, according to the 2021 U.S. Census, only 31.5 percent of Texans ages 25 and older have a bachelor's degree or higher. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)--the highest authority in the state…

College completion rates are low--nearly 40 percent of students do not earn a degree within six years of enrolling in college. Community college students face the highest hurdles--about 60 percent are without a degree six years after matriculating. Research has identified strategies that institutions can use to improve student success and degree…

Many talented students in under-resourced schools do not reach their full potential. Research shows that by sixth grade, children born into poverty have likely spent 6,000 fewer hours learning than their middle-class counterparts. Higher Achievement, an intensive summer and after-school program, aims to close that learning gap. It offers…

In 2014, as part of the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) Ohio Demonstration, Lorain County Community College launched Students Accelerating in Learning (SAIL), a comprehensive student success program that is substantially improving persistence and graduation rates among low-income students. Given the program's results, Lorain has…

While completion of a college credential is a critical step toward increasing one's viability in today's labor market, only about 40 percent of Americans earn an associate's or bachelor's degree by age 27. Many policymakers, education leaders, and philanthropic organizations have focused on improving graduation rates. In 2011, the Kresge…

Growing investments in preschool at the federal and state levels--particularly in evidence-based approaches to language acquisition and reading--are predicated in part on the hope that high-quality preschools might help close the gap between the school achievement of low-income children and their more affluent peers. Indeed, the problem is…

MDRC hosted a recent colloquium to celebrate their 40th anniversary and the contributions of former Board Chair Robert Solow. This paper summarizes a panel presentation featuring Frank Levy, Richard J. Murnane, Cecilia E. Rouse, and Ronald F. Ferguson, who discussed current challenges in education and how MDRC's research can help address them.