By Rebecca Winthrop, Fred Dews and Bill Finan. Girls’ education really is quite unique in terms of interventions you can do,” she says. “Not because it’s a silver bullet; there are no such things as silver bullets. But, certainly in developing country contexts, it has so many high returns across such a wide variety of areas important for society. More...

By Jon Valant. The steady growth of charter schools and public school choice programs is changing the ways that U.S. public schools are governed. Traditionally, states delegate school governance to school districts, with governing authority held by locally elected boards. More...

By Adela Soliz. There is a growing interest in proposals to make college affordable for students without requiring that they take on large amounts of debt. To this end, two of the Democratic candidates for president have put forth plans to improve college affordability which include having students work while enrolled. More...

By John T. Bruer. Implicit in recent Evidence Speaks postings is the need to develop evidence-based interventions for improving student achievement. Comparative analysis of the education research literature versus the educational neuroscience literature suggests that education research, grounded in the behavioral and cognitive sciences, is currently the better research base for instructional design, particularly if our goal is to improve educational outcomes in the near to intermediate future. More...

By Dick Startz. Do professional development programs for teachers actually develop better teachers? Should the large amount of money spent on teacher development be re-directed to better uses? “The Mirage: Confronting the Hard Truth About Our Quest for Teacher Development,” released this summer by TNTP (aka “The New Teacher Project”), raises serious questions about whether the entire teacher development enterprise should be abandoned. More...

By Jonathan Rothwell. Affirmative action policies in college admissions are currently occupying the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court. These policies typically treat black (or other less advantaged) applicants differently, perhaps by granting admission with a lower SAT score. One of the  arguments against affirmative action is “mismatch” theory, invoked by Justice Scalia's recent oral arguments. More...

By Jonathan Rothwell. Increasing the number of low-income adults going to—and through—college is an important step towards greater social mobility and reduced income inequality. College is also an important tool for tackling race gaps. But the challenge is not just about quantity: college quality counts for a good deal, too. More...