Research + Innovation

   accelerating equity & upward mobility   

         where we live, work, and learn         

Where Researchers,

Data & Tech      

Collide        

Partner Spotlight: Kiva U.S.

Can we further expand access to credit for historically excluded groups of borrowers without lowering repayment rates?

At the center of this research question is a shared interest in equitable lending. In partnership with Kiva U.S., we conducted a randomized experiment to expand access to credit across three dimensions of their lending model. Read about the methodology, preliminary analyses, and partner perspective:

Part I: Fair Lending R&D

Part II: Preliminary Analyses Generate Evidence for Social Underwriting

Expanding Access to Capital in the U.S. through Data-Driven Partnership (Kiva U.S.)

Affordable Housing Tech & Data Series

In partnership with AffordableHousing.com, we are continuously researching housing markets and choices relative to low-income households and public housing programs. Our findings inform policymakers at periodic White House Roundtables and are further explored in this blog series:

Primer | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

  • Education

    Examining scalable, tech-powered interventions and educational outcomes from K-12 to higher education to career reskilling and upskilling.

    Education Impact Area

  • Housing

    Researching the intersections of housing access, affordability, and preferences with educational opportunity and economic mobility.

    Housing Impact Area

  • Workforce

    Uncovering evidence-based, data-driven pathways to equitable hiring funnels, better workplace retention and career pathways that support upward mobility.

    Workforce Impact Area

Explore. Learn. Share.

Research Library
Simplification and Defaults Affect Adoption and Impact of Technology but Decision Makers Do Not Realize It
Simplification and Defaults Affect Adoption and Impact of Technology but Decision Makers Do Not Realize It

School districts committed to empowering families with actionable, accessible information in support of student success should consider not only what digital communications tools they use, but how they are made available.

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A Seven-College Experiment Using Algorithms to Track Students: Impacts and Implications for Equity and Fairness
A Seven-College Experiment Using Algorithms to Track Students: Impacts and Implications for Equity and Fairness

Algorithms that place students in college courses based on future learning predictions can reduce the share of students in remedial courses and increase total credits–without reducing class pass rates.

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Better Together? Social Networks in Truancy and the Targeting of Treatment
Better Together? Social Networks in Truancy and the Targeting of Treatment

Because students skip school with friends, social network maps can help target truancy interventions and reduce class absences.

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The Risks & Benefits of School Integration for Participating Students: Evidence from a Randomized Desegregation Program
The Risks & Benefits of School Integration for Participating Students: Evidence from a Randomized Desegregation Program

Across-district school integration programs can boost academic outcomes for minority students but need to address other risks to student wellbeing.

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Housing Search Frictions: Evidence from Detailed Search Data and a Field Experiment
Housing Search Frictions: Evidence from Detailed Search Data and a Field Experiment

By providing information about school quality, affordable housing websites can help families move to opportunity.

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Leveraging Parents through Low-Cost Technology: The Impact of High-Frequency Information on Student Achievement
Leveraging Parents through Low-Cost Technology: The Impact of High-Frequency Information on Student Achievement

Automated text messages to parents show major promise for boosting school attendance and grades at a low cost to districts.

Read More →

In the News

  • Seattle may have figured out how to get more poor people into better housing.

    April 2023

    Full Article

  • Mobile phones can enable learning during school disruptions. Here’s how.

    July 2022

    Full Article

  • What the pandemic taught educators.

    June 2022

    Full Article

  • How to use correlation to make predictions.

    April 2022

    Full Article

  • UT researcher: Austin rent spike to hit struggling families even harder.

    January 2022

    Full Article

  • For kids at home, ‘a small intervention makes a big difference.’

    October 2020

    Full Article

  • AllHere gets a ‘nudge’ to scale low-cost, research-backed way to improve student outcomes.

    June 2020

    Full Article