Philanthropy Action

Category: Education

There are 41 entries in this category.

Oct 18, 2008

What’s So Hard About Saving?

One of the many confounding questions of microfinance is why people don’t save more. The first blush assumption that the poor cannot save because they don’t have the money has been dis-proven by data. Surveys of household consumption among those living on less than $2 a day show that they spend a significant portion of their income on non-essential items. In many cases where savings products are available they are widely used, even when they are objectively terrible (negative interest rates, inconvenient).

Sep 23, 2008

Education Reform and What Bush Leaves Behind

President Bush’s No Child Left Behind education policy is the subject of much debate in these pre-election days. Advocates argue that the assessment focus at the core of NCLB is key to creating the kind of accountability that public schools need. But teachers claim the assessment scores holds teachers wholly responsible for student success while ignoring contributing issues. Is there a middle ground?

Sep 11, 2008

Familiarity Breeds Contempt?

Is it a symptom or a cause that journalism about American schools is so routinely poor? While there is good journalism out there, it can be tough to find. To make sound decisions on education reform we need more experiments backed up with high-quality studies, as well as more journalism based on data rather than opinion and ideology. While New Orleans will be used as a test case and featured in many forthcoming articles on education, keep in mind that the lack of controlled trials means that all sides of the debate will be able to use the data to support their pre-existing conclusions.

Jul 21, 2008

Interview: United Way of America CEO Brian Gallagher

Recently we discussed United Way’s refocusing, the meaning of accountability, and the state of philanthropy in general with CEO Brian Gallagher.

Jun 12, 2008

Conflicting Data on American Education “Crises”

While there is vociferous conflict over the source of and remedies for the “crisis” in public education, it seems that everyone agrees that there is a big problem. Rather than spending millions of dollars fighting over education ideology we would all be better served by taking a humble approach that focuses on experimenting and testing various approaches to improving learning and performance by all students.

Apr 24, 2008

Explosive Growth in Conditional Cash Transfers

Conditional cash transfer programs (CCT) are rapidly gaining popularity around the world. While there are studies which show that CCT programs have a positive impact, there’s still a lot we don’t know about how well they work, why they work, and how to structure programs for maximum benefit to both recipients and society. To help answer these questions, we recently spoke with Dr. Leigh Linden, an assistant professor of economics at Columbia University.

Apr 23, 2008

Paying Parents to Keep Kids in School

For families living in poverty, the cost of sending a child to school can involve more than just educational fees. The “opportunity cost” of attending class—generally measured in potential wages lost as a consequence of having a child who’s in school rather than taking care of younger siblings so parents can work, or working himself—can be too great to justify the expense and delayed benefit of a formal education. To deal with this conflict governments are experimenting with conditional cash transfer programs which, in the case of education, provide incentive payments to poor families that send their kids to school.

Mar 21, 2008

Emerging Opportunities in the US, Part II

More opportunities for high-impact philanthropy in the US.

Mar 10, 2008

The Worst of Journalism, Part II

Reporting like this only serves to muddy the waters for anyone trying to improve education in the US and elsewhere. The false impression readers get of cause and effect makes it all the harder for sound research on what works and what doesn’t to rise to the top.

Feb 28, 2008

Emerging Opportunities for Philanthropy in the US

The current economic situation is generating many other possible opportunities for innovative and high-impact philanthropy. Here are a few ideas that are worth exploring.

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