Tag Archives: education

British and U.S. Inequality Over the Lifecourse: An Important New Report

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

Ben and I both attended the Social Change Harvard-Manchester Initiative (SCHMi) summer institute in 2010, a joint program between the University of Manchester and Harvard. A core group of SCHMi researchers just released a report, authored by Rourke O’Brien (also … Continue reading →

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Solving the High School Graduation Puzzle

Posted on February 7, 2013 by

Going back at least as far as the landmark 1966 Coleman Report, social scientists and policymakers have debated how much educational achievement gaps reflect the influence of families and social norms on the one hand, and differences in the quality … Continue reading →

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When do charter schools work?

Posted on October 2, 2012 by

Are KIPP schools the solution to what ails the poorest, most disadvantaged urban students? The KIPP educational paradigm rests on a few core principles (“the Five Pillars”) – High Expectations, Choice and Commitment, More Time, Power to Lead, and Focus … Continue reading →

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Life Expectancy in the U.S. is Getting Shorter for the Least Educated

Posted on August 16, 2012 by

The late 20th century brought landmark public health movements to the United States, like the control of tobacco, and medical breakthroughs in the treatment of heart disease and cancer. Life expectancy surged overall, but today the lower educated are still … Continue reading →

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Should the government promote marriages among the disadvantaged?

Posted on May 3, 2012 by

Perhaps the most socially divisive question in post welfare reform America has been whether the federal government should encourage unmarried parents to wed. The Bush administration plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into its Healthy Marriage Initiative, a program that … Continue reading →

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Does College Make You Liberal?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

“President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob… There are good decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught … Continue reading →

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Health Behaviors Do Not Explain the Growing Education-Mortality Gradient

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

The gap in premature mortality between high and low educated people in the United States has grown considerably over the last few decades, even as life expectancy has increased overall. A common explanation is the changing distribution of risk factors: … Continue reading →

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New York City Wants to Solve Poverty, Will it Work?

Posted on August 4, 2011 by

Anti-poverty successes are celebrated nationally, but how quickly we forget the failures. Does anybody remember the New York City conditional cash transfer program for poor families, Opportunity NYC? The program, which supporters hoped would help to change the behaviors of … Continue reading →

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Who Learns in the Summer?

Posted on June 14, 2011 by

When you’re a kid, nothing beats the delirious excitement of summer vacation. After the final school bell rings in mid June, or thereabout, millions of American schoolchildren trade the books and stuffy classrooms for lounging around the house and the … Continue reading →

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After the Smoke Clears: Rebuilding North Africa and the Middle East

Posted on March 4, 2011 by

In the last month it’s been impossible to not get swept up in the euphoria of the Jasmine Revolution and the liberation of Egypt and Tunisia. With the situation taking a grim turn in neighboring Libya and in Yemen, however, … Continue reading →

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