As the first major effort to use a behavioral economics lens to examine human services programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States, the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project demonstrated the value of applying behavioral insights to improve the efficacy of human services programs. The BIAS…

In school districts across the nation, diverse student groups have been experiencing significant gains in reading performance after using READ 180. This compendium of READ 180 research contains 40 studies. The studies take place in a variety of settings in school districts across the country from 1999 to 2012. Summarized are correlational and…

Every Classroom, Every Day (ECED) is a set of instructional improvement interventions designed to increase student achievement in math and English/language arts (ELA). ECED includes three primary components: (a) systematic classroom observations by school leaders, (b) intensive professional development and support for math teachers and…

Performance-based scholarships were developed to help tackle some of the financial obstacles facing students in the postsecondary education system. In general, these scholarships aim to help reduce the financial burdens of low-income college students, and are structured to help incentivize good academic progress. Performance-based scholarships…

Performance-based scholarships have two main goals: (1) to give students more money for college; and (2) to provide incentives for academic progress. MDRC launched the Performance-Based Scholarship (PBS) Demonstration in 2008 to evaluate the effectiveness of these scholarships in a diverse set of states, institutions, and low-income student…

The current study, a randomized controlled trial, explores how technology and educational transmedia resources can enhance prekindergarten math teaching and learning in preschools, especially those serving children who may be at risk for academic difficulties due to economic and social disadvantages. This research is part of a multi-year summative…

In school districts across the nation, diverse student groups, including English Learners and students with disabilities, have been experiencing significant gains in reading performance after using READ 180. This compendium of READ 180 research contains results of 40 studies conducted in a variety of settings, in school districts across the…

This paper presents research that explores similarities and differences across six randomized controlled trials of learning communities in community colleges that were conducted by MDRC and the National Center for Postsecondary Research. Five of these studies track students' progress in the program semester and two follow-up semesters, and one…

Developmental education, also termed remedial education, refers to curricula intended to improve the academic skills and knowledge of students who are underprepared for undergraduate coursework, particularly in the areas of mathematics, reading, and writing. Many practitioners and researchers agree that developmental education should be improved,…