This report from the Brookings Institution reviews the role of education in helping low-income children advance economically. Authored by Isabel Sawhill, she concludes that the U.S. education system tends to reinforce rather than compensate for…

From the National Center for Children in Poverty, this article highlights effective programs, policy opportunities, and other strategies to improve educational outcomes for children. This brief is to inform policymakers and other stakeholders on…

While many organizations provide skills training to help low-income people attain and maintain employment, very few provide strategies to aid in the development of employment networks. This article reviews promising practices from around the…

Because community colleges are often affordable, they offer many students the opportunity to gain postsecondary education. It has been found that many students, who start at community college, drop out. Because of this problem, the Opening Doors…

This report uses meta-analysis, a set of statistically based techniques for combining  quantitative findings from different studies, to synthesize estimates of program effects from  random assignment evaluations of welfare-to-work…

This MDRC report examines an array of welfare policies to help States determine which programs and policies best help single parents transition from welfare to work. The report examines the effects of over 25 welfare-to-work programs, including…

Rural low-income families trying to find jobs, maintain employment, and secure longer-term well-being face distinct challenges. In rural labor markets, jobs tend to be scarcer than in urban ones, and the jobs that are available more often involve…

This report examines the effects of welfare and work policies on earnings, welfare benefits, income, stable employment, and stable welfare exits across a range of subgroups using information from random assignment studies of 26 welfare and work…

Drawing from administrative records and survey data collected for the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies (NEWWS) during the 1990s, this report extends MDRC's research on whether mandatory employment-focused and education-focused…