56 episodes

Policymakers talk about solutions, but which ones really work? MDRC’s Evidence First podcast features experts—program administrators, policymakers, and researchers—talking about the best evidence available on education and social programs that serve people with low incomes.

Evidence First MDRC

    • Science
    • 4.9 • 16 Ratings

Policymakers talk about solutions, but which ones really work? MDRC’s Evidence First podcast features experts—program administrators, policymakers, and researchers—talking about the best evidence available on education and social programs that serve people with low incomes.

    Training Workers When Employers Hire Based on Skills: Lessons from Connecticut and Virginia

    Training Workers When Employers Hire Based on Skills: Lessons from Connecticut and Virginia

    As the cost of higher education climbs, skills-based hiring has gained traction. It’s a labor market trend in which employers hire based on applicants’ skills, with the understanding that degrees are not the only way to acquire competencies.
     
    In a follow-up to an earlier episode on skills-based hiring, Rachel Rosen, who leads MDRC’s Center for Effective Career and Technical Education, speaks with two guests: Kelli-Marie Vallieres, Connecticut’s Chief Workforce Officer who leads the state’s Office of Workforce Strategy, and Elizabeth Creamer, Vice President of Workforce Development for the Community College Workforce Alliance, which is the workforce development division of Brightpoint and Reynolds community colleges, within the Virginia Community College System.  
    They discuss which sectors are experiencing an uptick in skills-based hiring in Connecticut, what non-degree programs are offered in Virginia, and whether skills-based hiring can promote equity.

    • 32 min
    Implementing an Evidence-Based and Domain-Specific Pre-K Curriculum: A Conversation with Cheryl Ohlson and Michelle Maier

    Implementing an Evidence-Based and Domain-Specific Pre-K Curriculum: A Conversation with Cheryl Ohlson and Michelle Maier

    Most pre-K classrooms use a whole-child approach to educational curricula, which focuses on the broad development of children’s academic skills. By contrast, domain-specific curricula focus more on specific areas of learning, such as math, literacy, or science. MDRC has partnered with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to implement a new domain-specific curriculum in its schools.
    In this episode, Leigh Parise speaks with Cheryl Ohlson, DCPS deputy chief of early childhood education, and Michelle Maier, MDRC senior associate, to outline their domain-specific curriculum strategy and to explain some of the ups and downs of their ongoing implementation in pre-K programs across Washington, DC. They explain how domain-specific curricula intersects with other important trends in pre-K education, including the importance of play and of providing developmentally appropriate instruction. Ohlson also discusses how teachers were trained to teach domain-specific curricula and addresses some of the challenges of implementing the initiative at scale.

    • 23 min
    When Employers Hire Based on Skills: A Conversation with Matt Sigelman

    When Employers Hire Based on Skills: A Conversation with Matt Sigelman

    As the cost of higher education climbs, skills-based hiring has gained traction. It’s a labor market trend in which employers hire based on applicants’ skills, with the understanding that degrees are not the only way to acquire competencies.
     
    Skills-based hiring has the potential to increase equity in the hiring process, providing avenues to socio-economic mobility for historically marginalized populations. However, there are also questions about whether the movement could demotivate students from pursuing two- or four-year degrees that may be more transferable to other jobs.
     
    To learn more about skills-based hiring across education and workforce training domains, Leigh Parise talks with Matt Sigelman, President of the Burning Glass Institute, which studies economic and workforce trends.

    • 24 min
    Lessons about Tutoring and Addressing Learning Loss from Reading Partners

    Lessons about Tutoring and Addressing Learning Loss from Reading Partners

    Many schools are expanding tutoring services and personalized instruction to address learning loss caused by the pandemic. This episode features Reading Partners, a successful national nonprofit that mobilizes community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring to students who struggle with reading in under-resourced elementary schools. MDRC has been working with Reading Partners for nearly 15 years to help document and improve the program’s effectiveness. MDRC’s rigorous evaluation of Reading Partners found that its program boosted three different measures of reading proficiency, including reading comprehension, for second- to fifth-graders.  
    In the first episode of a series celebrating MDRC’s 50th anniversary and our longtime collaborators, join Leigh Parise as she talks with Dean Elson, Chief Knowledge Officer at Reading Partners, and Robin Jacob, a Research Professor at Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and Co-Director of the Youth Policy Lab. Jacob helped lead MDRC’s evaluation of Reading Partners and is currently studying their distance learning model, Reading Partners Connects. Elson and Jacob discuss MDRC’s study of Reading Partners, how to get volunteers to teach reading effectively, and how technology will continue to play a role in tutoring.

    • 24 min
    Adapting a Wraparound Student Support Program for College Students in Rural Areas: A Conversation with Crystine Miller and Alyssa Ratledge

    Adapting a Wraparound Student Support Program for College Students in Rural Areas: A Conversation with Crystine Miller and Alyssa Ratledge

    Montana 10 is a scholarship program offered by the Montana University System that offers wraparound academic, social, and financial supports to students from rural areas, first-generation college students, and Native American students. MDRC is partnering with the Montana University System on an evaluation of Montana 10..
    In this episode, Leigh Parise speaks with Crystine Miller, Director of Student Affairs and Student Engagement in the Montana University System, and Alyssa Ratledge, a Research Associate in Postsecondary Education at MDRC, about the Montana 10 evaluation and its potential value to the field of higher education research. The pair describes the unique challenges of conducting an evaluation in a mostly rural higher education system. They also highlight what questions the evaluation is hoping to answer about rural students. For example, does the choice between returning to one’s hometown after graduating and moving away to pursue employment carry a special weight for students from rural backgrounds?
    To learn more about the Montana 10 project and some of the barriers facing rural students in postsecondary education, check out this recent commentary by Ratledge in The Hechinger Report.

    • 23 min
    From Doubling Graduation Rates to Increasing Earnings: Replicating the City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (CUNY ASAP) in Ohio

    From Doubling Graduation Rates to Increasing Earnings: Replicating the City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (CUNY ASAP) in Ohio

    In 2014, three Ohio colleges set out to adapt a student support model pioneered by the City University of New York called Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, or ASAP. The program requires students to attend college full time and provides them with support services for three years, including enhanced advising, financial aid, and career counseling. MDRC'S evaluation of the ASAP Ohio program has found that it doubled graduation rates for community college students after three years. With support from Arnold Ventures, MDRC recently released exciting long-term findings, showing that ASAP Ohio not only boosted attainment of associate’s and bachelor’s degrees after six years but also increased the earnings of students.
    In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Christine Brongniart, the University Executive Director of CUNY ASAP, and Colleen Sommo, a senior research fellow in MDRC's Postsecondary Education policy area, to learn more about the CUNY ASAP model, its replication across the country, and the latest findings from MDRC’s study of the program in Ohio.

    • 26 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
16 Ratings

16 Ratings

Hyde Park Native ,

Informative!

Great source for the latest in social policy research!

ladylawyer232 ,

A short and sweet shot of evidence!

Really informative and engaging.

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