K-12 Education

Career Academies

Small learning communities in low-income high schools, offering academic and career/technical courses as well as workplace opportunities
UPDATED: Nov 20, 2017
Top Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable positive impact on earnings of participants eight years after their scheduled high school graduation.
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KIPP Charter Schools

A nonprofit network of 280 college-preparatory, public charter schools that serve a predominantly low-income, minority population of students from pre-K through high school.
UPDATED: Oct 11, 2023
Top Tier
Randomized controlled trials show sizable, statistically-significant effects on reading and math achievement in elementary and middle school two to three years after random assignment.
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Annual Book Fairs in High-Poverty Elementary Schools

Book fairs providing summer reading over three consecutive years, starting at the end of first or second grade
UPDATED: Nov 20, 2017
Near Top Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable increase in students’ reading achievement.
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First-Grade Classroom Prevention Program

A program that combines a classroom management strategy – the Good Behavior Game – with an enhanced academic curriculum
UPDATED: Jan 25, 2018
Near Top Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable reduction in substance use, and sizable increases in high school graduation and college enrollment rates.
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Learning Accounts

A program providing financial aid for post-secondary education to low-income 10th grade students, conditioned on their progress through high school
UPDATED: Sep 24, 2019
Near Top Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable increase in the rates of both high school graduation and college graduation.
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New York City’s Small Schools of Choice

Small public high schools created citywide in mostly high-poverty communities to replace large, low-performing high schools
UPDATED: Jan 25, 2018
Near Top Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable increase in the rates of four-year high school graduation and receipt of a New York State Regents diploma.
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Promise Academy Charter Middle School in the Harlem Children’s Zone

A charter middle school in New York City, serving mainly low-income, minority students
UPDATED: Jan 25, 2018
Near Top Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable increase in the four-year high school graduation rate and scores on New York Regents tests required for graduation.
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Check and Connect

A dropout prevention program for high school students with learning, emotional, and/or behavioral disabilities
UPDATED: Nov 20, 2017
Suggestive Tier
Randomized controlled trials show a sizable decrease in students’ dropout rates, and increase in attendance and academic credits earned.
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Montreal Prevention Program

A delinquency prevention program for disruptive elementary school boys
UPDATED: Jan 25, 2018
Suggestive Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable increase in high school graduation rates, and decrease in criminal behavior, in early adulthood.
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Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) Program

A volunteer tutoring program for at-risk readers in early elementary school
UPDATED: Feb 09, 2018
Suggestive Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows a sizable positive impact on students’ reading ability.
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Success for All for Grades K-2

A school-wide reform program, primarily for high-poverty elementary schools, with a strong emphasis on reading instruction
UPDATED: Jan 12, 2018
Suggestive Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows positive impact in raising school-wide reading achievement in grades K-2; however, key effects were not reproduced in a second trial.
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Tutoring with Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing

A program for at-risk readers in grades K-2
UPDATED: Feb 09, 2018
Suggestive Tier
Randomized controlled trial shows sizable positive impacts on reading ability for students with poor phonological processing (e.g., letter naming, and awareness of the sounds within words).
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