Oct 22, 2010

My Favorite Study of the Day: Why Aren’t We Targeting Men?

Two years ago David McKenzie presented results of his work in Sri Lanka on the returns on capital for male and female entrepreneurs. He found that women had zero or negative returns on capital, while men, on average, generated fairly high returns. Since then he’s run a similar study in Ghana. I’ll be writing about this study in more detail later, including an interview with David, but for now I wanted to pass along the content of David’s last slide which covers his conclusions from the studies he’s done on this issue:

Sep 28, 2010

Is US Education in Crisis?

Nicholas Lemann posits in last week’s New Yorker that there is no crisis in US public education. Is he right?

Sep 22, 2010

Technology in Education - More questions than answers

A New York Times article on the potential of using video games kids in education makes some interesting points about the kind of lessons people learn when mastering a game. Success comes only when you get the highest level, and no gamer expects to get there without having their avatar die many times before they get there. Failure, in short, is an expected, necessary and useful part of the process, and you can fail as much as you want—the game will let you try again.

Aug 12, 2010

Ensuring Markets in Education Work

A recent study of for-profit higher education institutions in the US found widespread misbehavior. Social entrepreneurs, funders and policy makers in the “private schools for the poor” movement should take note—and ensure their programs design accountability, transparency and quality governance systems from the outset.

Jun 29, 2010

U.S. Lagging, Not Leading, Social Entrepreneurship

May 31, 2010

Patient Optimism In Other Words

Apr 27, 2010

Thoughts from the Council on Foundations Annual Conference

I’ve been in Denver for a few days at the Council on Foundations annual conference. I’ve been unable to post updates as I did at the Global Philanthropy Forum because the technology infrastructure available here is, frankly, terrible. With that said, some brief thoughts, which I hope to follow-up with more detailed posts over the next few weeks.

Apr 23, 2010

Esther Duflo wins John Bates Clark Medal

Today Esther Duflo was announced as the winner of the John Bates Clark Medal. The award is granted to the economist under age 40 who has “contributed the most to the profession.“ The increasing recognition of Duflo’s groundbreaking work to bring experimental economics to bear on real world questions is a ray of hope that philanthropy and public policy can learn from what works.

You can read an extensive interview with Esther Duflo here.

Mar 12, 2010

Teachers Are Made, Not Born

Good teachers are not born. Instead, research increasingly shows that effective teachers consistently possess attainable knowledge about their subjects and take specific actions in the classroom that promote student learning.

Feb 11, 2010

A Round-Up of Education Headlines

There have been a number of articles and reports published in the past few weeks pointing toward the value of clear evidence of what works in the field of education.