The Center for Data Insights at MDRC has partnered with organizations to develop and execute a variety of data projects, some with long-standing partners that have participated in MDRC's long-term evaluations; others with newer partners that are just beginning to use data for program improvement. Important lessons about the essential ingredients…

Implementation of ESA programs will not be easy. The ESA model is novel and foreign to most state education agencies, which have little to no experience with helping families purchase a wide variety of educational goods and services using government funds. Even if agencies had the relevant experience, ESA programs are complex, involving millions…

Despite school psychologists working in non-school settings since 1896, no studies have investigated the practices that these professionals engage in outside the schools. The purpose of this study was to explore the practices of school psychologists in school and non-school settings, such as state agencies and hospitals. Additionally, the…

State school safety centers (SSSCs) aim to provide a wide range of services to enhance school security. Still, more information is needed to understand how the centers should operate and what factors determine their success. In 2021, the WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center received funding from the U.S. National Institute of Justice to…

This qualitative case study examined the perspectives of Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers in a Virginia Region III Head Start agency, focusing on factors influencing their intentions to stay and ways to improve retention rates. The study addressed workforce challenges by identifying specific retention factors and exploring solutions. The…

The curricular integration of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is crucial for cultivating informed, critical, and engaged citizens in contemporary society. It assists in addressing the challenges of the digital era and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by the ever-changing media landscape. Thus, the present systematic literature…

Since 2010, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Strong Foundations survey has reported on the evolution and value of postsecondary student unit record systems (PSURSs) by illuminating the condition of state postsecondary data in the U.S. In the "Strong Foundations 2023" survey, which was administered from…

Students with disabilities (SWDs) face challenges in following rules and expectations. The problem addressed by this study was that SWDs experience disproportionate levels of exclusionary discipline when compared to their non-disabled peers. This quantitative causal-comparative study examined the impact of different levels of positive behavior…

Because many large, state-owned Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IIDs) have closed or downsized, their average size has fallen markedly, as has the number that are publicly owned. We probe the relationship between ownership type and four measures of care quality in ICF/IIDs. Data on deficiency…

In the United States, state-level agencies manage a variety of early care and education (ECE) programs serving children birth through age 5, including publicly funded preschool programs. A state office of early learning (SOEL) often oversees and manages select early childhood programs. SOELs typically have a significant role in such tasks as…

Research findings have identified the importance of university/district partnerships in the preparation of principals along with points of dissatisfaction of traditional preparation programs outcomes. While change had and was occurring in some programs, impactful change in the quality of programs and program completers must involve all…

Numerous policies and reforms have been proposed and implemented to increase accountability and improve performance in higher education in the United States (U.S.), which has included an emphasis on the state's role in authorizing colleges and universities to operate and award degrees. The recent surge in peer-reviewed and grey literature has…

Like many state education agencies, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) recognized it needed more structure to parts of its school improvement approach. NDE leaders wanted to consider the work through an equity-focused lens, ensuring supports were effective for multilingual students, and create a process that would be replicable, scalable,…

Charter school authorizers shape which charter schools open, where they open, and who they serve. We draw on principal agent theory to investigate how the priorities and practices of nine authorizers intersected with charter school applications' attention to the needs of historically marginalized students. Using data from interviews and…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers the Child Nutrition (CN) Programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Milk Program (SMP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). FNS provides oversight, guidance,…