Blog

News

News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly email updates.

Four children in sit in the Mindspark lab in India, engaging with a learning program on their computers.

A well CAL-ibrated approach to addressing learning losses in a post-Covid classroom

When schools in India reopen after the pandemic, the learning gap may further widen for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Research suggests personalizing instruction can be one of the most effective ways of improving learning while making judicious use of existing educational resources.
A view of the Boston common, city hall, and distant skyscrapers

Promoting upward mobility in partnership with state and local governments: A blueprint for future evaluations

This blog post is the final piece in a series on how state and local governments in the United States can promote upward mobility in their communities. It is part of J-PAL North America’s work to develop a learning agenda that summarizes the core research priorities from state and local governments...
A women wearing a face mask sits outside with two children, also wearing face masks.

Motivating new education research and scale for COVID-19 recovery

J-PAL is launching a one-time Education Research and Scale for COVID-19 Recovery innovation competition to fund randomized evaluations and scale-ups of strategies to improve access, quality, equity, and relevance of pre-primary, primary, and post-primary education in response to the ongoing COVID...
Girls in uniforms sit in a classroom in India

Reflections from seven years of research in J-PAL’s Post-Primary Education Initiative

J-PAL’s Post-Primary Education Initiative has funded more than 140 projects since its inception in 2013. We reflect on what we’ve learned through this research—and where we go from here.
Commuters ride an escalator in London

Promoting upward mobility in partnership with state and local governments: The intersection of gender, race, health, and poverty alleviation

This blog post is part two of three in a series on how state and local governments in the United States can promote upward mobility in their communities. It is part of J-PAL North America’s work to develop a learning agenda that summarizes the core research priorities from state and local...
A person is speaking in front of a group of teachers in a classroom.

The devil’s in the details (of adapting and scaling evidence-based programs)

J-PAL Senior Policy Associate Robert Rogers discusses his experience working on an education scale-up in Cote d'Ivoire.
Two women wearing uniforms talking to each other

#DayoftheGirlChild: Preventing the surge in teenage pregnancies due to COVID-19

In this blog, we highlight key interventions that policymakers and practitioners may wish to consider to urgently reduce child marriages and teenage pregnancies in light of the pandemic.
A young student in class

Promoting girls’ participation in schools: insights from academic research

What actions can countries take to implement or reinforce efforts to increase school participation for girls? Pascaline Dupas (Stanford; Co-Chair, J-PAL’s Health sector) presented evidence from randomized evaluations on interventions that have increased school participation in a recent webinar.