MDRC

09/22/2026

MDRC is pleased to announce the creation of the new MDRC Center for Housing and Communities.

For nearly three decades, MDRC has been at the forefront of developing evidence on innovative housing and community revitalization strategies that expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and improve the lives of people with low incomes.

The MDRC Center for Housing and Communities builds on this legacy to develop, test, and advance evidence-based solutions to today’s most pressing housing and community challenges.

MDRC is pleased to announce the creation of the new MDRC Center for Housing and Communities.

09/14/2026

Interpreting the results from an evaluation of a postsecondary intervention can be challenging:

✅ If an intervention causes students to earn 1.4 more credits, is that a small, medium, or large effect?

✅ Is a 5.7 percentage point effect on retention something to get excited about?

Empirical benchmarks offer one approach to answering these questions by placing an effect estimate in context — by comparing it with the effects of other interventions that were evaluated and that target the same outcome.

In this brief video, MDRC's Audrey Yu introduces THE-RCT's empirical benchmarks app, which focuses on key outcomes such as credits earned, enrollment rates, and graduation rates. The app allows users to interpret their own findings with greater clarity.

Check out the app here: https://www.mdrc.org/the-rct/phase-3/empirical-benchmarks

09/03/2026

High and rising rents mean that families and individuals suffering destabilizing life events are vulnerable to housing instability, especially if they don't have strong social connections and safety net support.

Policymakers are looking at shared housing as a potential solution. Shared housing is when two or more unrelated people live together and share a common space in temporary or permanent housing.

MDRC and the Shared Housing Institute are collaborating with leaders of eight homelessness services organizations across the country who are using shared housing as part of their strategy to end homelessness in expensive housing markets.

A new episode of MDRC's Evidence First podcast features two shared housing experts: Meghann Cotter and Wendy Tippett.

Full episode: https://www.mdrc.org/work/podcast/shared-housing-promising-strategy-combat-homelessness-and-social-isolation

08/11/2026

Technology-based assessments used in pre-K classrooms to capture children’s skills in academic domains (like literacy, language, and math) automatically capture “metadata” on how children engage with tasks, such as how quickly they respond or whether they complete assessment items.

This report examines whether these data can provide a way to measure young children’s executive functioning skills—such as attention, ability to retain information, and ability to suppress impulses—without requiring additional assessments that place burdens on educators and are more difficult to deploy on a large scale.

This report explores whether metadata from technology-based pre-K assessments can provide some measures of children’s executive functioning skills. The findings suggest some metadata measures, particularly those combining response time and accuracy, show promise for identifying children with execu...

08/11/2026

MDRC’s Evidence to Practice team is hosting a free, three-part webinar series designed to help practitioners put participants at the center of their data collection efforts.

The first webinar of the series describes an adaptation of the photovoice method, a strategy that uses photos taken by program participants to inform the improvement of program services.

During the webinar, presenters share a step-by-step overview of their process, along with examples of how MDRC’s partner JVS applied it in practice.

Watch the full webinar: https://www.mdrc.org/work/videos/webinar-seeing-through-their-eyes-elevating-participant-voice-through-photovoice

07/24/2026

In 2022, Google launched the Google Career Certificates Fund initiative to expand access to in-demand job training for adults seeking stronger economic opportunities.

Managed by Social Finance and delivered through nonprofit training providers, the initiative provides learners with access to Google Career Certificates, which are designed to equip people with job-ready skills in high-paying fields like Cybersecurity, IT Support, Project Management, and Data Analytics.

Early findings from an MDRC study show diverse learner engagement, solid progression for those who advanced into the core program phases, and a financing structure that many described as essential to their ability to enroll and continue in training.

These results also highlight the importance of continued employer engagement and the accessibility of support services that help learners manage their varied financial obligations during their job training and job search process.

In 2022, Google launched the Google Career Certificates Fund (GCCF) initiative to expand access to technology-focused training for adults seeking stronger economic opportunities. Early findings from an evaluation of the initiative show promising patterns in engagement and program completion and a po...

07/17/2026

Over 40 million Americans have some college credits but no postsecondary credential.

Many of these students are considered “stop-outs,” meaning they earned some college credit and then withdrew from college for a time with the intention of eventually returning.

Across four colleges, students who received the Re-Enrollment and Completion Team (REACT) intervention were nearly twice as likely to reenroll.

Learn more: https://www.mdrc.org/work/publications/react-reenrolls-nearly-twice-many-students-who-have-stopped-attending-college

07/08/2026

Many thanks to Bridget Terry Long, Saris Professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Eloy Oakley, President & CEO of the College Futures Foundation, for sharing their valuable insights yesterday with MDRC staff about the challenges and opportunities facing higher education in the United States.

We are very fortunate to have Bridget and Eloy serving on the MDRC Board of Directors, which Bridget chairs.

(Shown here with MDRC's Virginia Knox, Alex Mayer, and John Martinez.)

07/04/2026

In this five-minute video, Steve Lee, chief executive officer of the SkillUp Coalition, and Richard Hendra, director of MDRC’s Center for Data Insights, reflect on their partnership to evaluate a career navigation chatbot.

In this five-minute video, Steve Lee, chief executive officer of th...

07/02/2026

Caitlin Anzelone, director of the MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral Science, will be the featured guest in a free webinar, “Effective Communication for Student Success,” sponsored by College Promise, on July 15, 2-3 pm (EDT).

Caitlin Anzelone, director of the MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral Science, will be the featured guest in a free webinar, “Effective Communication for Student Success,” sponsored by College Promise, on July 15, 2-3 pm (EDT).