Education

Black History Month: Honoring Black Behavioral Scientists

by ideas42

In the U.S., Black History Month is a time to reflect on the contributions made by Black people in all walks of life, across all industries and in all parts of our society. It’s also a time to celebrate and amplify the voices of those in the Black community and reflect on those who inspire […]

A Look Back on 2021: 5 Behavioral Science Takeaways

by ideas42

Every day, working with a wide range of partners around the world, we use behavioral science to address complex social problems. And each year, we take a moment to reflect on this work, what we’ve learned, and how to build on this knowledge going forward.  As 2021 draws to a close, here are five takeaways […]

Introducing the Student Success Academy: Developing Behavioral Design Capacity in Higher Education

by Cassie Taylor

This fall, for the first time in over a year, many colleges and universities invited students back to campus. The opportunity to return to campus offered some semblance of a more traditional college experience, and importantly, helped address the disproportionate burden that campus closures placed on low-income, first-generation, and international students, among others. However, significant […]

A Nudge to Reconnect: Boosting College Persistence Rates Among Adult Students in Tennessee

by Katherine Flaschen

This is part of a series of posts about our ongoing partnership with the University of Virginia’s Nudge4 Solutions Lab and the community college systems of Tennessee and Virginia to increase degree attainment among adult students in the U.S. by designing and testing behaviorally informed solutions. Click here to read more about this partnership. In […]

What is Preventing Education Administrators from Using Data in Their Decisions?

by Griffin Smith

Quality education benefits individual learners (the South African term for students in primary schools), economies, and societies at large through increased earnings and economic growth, better health choices, better-functioning institutions and public services, and more. South Africa, among other countries, has sought to better realize these benefits through increased spending on education. However, while South […]

Honoring Black Behavioral Scientists and Examining the Psychology of Race in History

by ideas42

People often (erroneously) believe that a few leaders are responsible for the development of an emerging field, an idea, or event in history because of perceived “natural attributes” such as superior intelligence. This is known as “great man” theory–a flawed theory, of course, because in reality it is the tireless work of countless people that […]

Our Top Behavioral Science Highlights of the Year (Goodbye, 2020)

by ideas42

It’s become tradition of sorts that each December, we reflect on the year behind us and celebrate the newest evidence and social impact generated by behavioral science. Of course, 2020 is a difficult year to look back on with much fondness. And yet, even in one of the more challenging years in living memory, we […]

Boosting Student Voter Participation During a Pandemic

by Jazondré Gibbs, Tom Tasche, and Cassie Taylor

Nearly twice as many students voted in the 2018 midterm election as in 2014, raising turnout among student voters to a high-water mark. As recently as last fall, analysts confidently forecasted similarly record-breaking levels of participation in the 2020 presidential election. Fast forward 12 months and, needless to say, things have changed. The pandemic is […]

8 Strategies for College Leaders Advancing Change Initiatives

by Cassie Taylor

Beyond the stress of actually living through the COVID-19 crisis themselves, college leaders are in the midst of having to make substantial changes to the higher education system in what feels like real time. From ongoing efforts to improve student services to the urgent need to transition courses online due to the pandemic, the entire […]