Researchers examined the impact of time spent at a charter school on students’ learning outcomes in Lynn, Massachusetts. Results suggest that enrollment at a charter school significantly improved students’ test scores in both math and English language arts.

In India, researchers leveraged a randomized evaluation of the distribution of a new seed variety to assess how the new seed spread within communities and social groups. They found that local social structures, such as the jati-caste system, influenced the extent of seed adoption. In particular, sharing of seeds between farmers within a village occurred more rapidly and extensively in villages with a relatively more homogenous social structure.

Numerous summer jobs programs in the United States seek to support the employment of young people facing barriers to employment and opportunity. Researchers studied the impact of the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program (which used a lottery to determine participation) on youth earnings, employment, college enrollment, incarceration, and mortality. Although the program increased earnings and employment during the year of participation, it caused a modest decrease in earnings in subsequent years and had no effect on college enrollment. The program also decreased the incarceration and mortality rates of program participants.

A large charitable organization in the United States conducted a series of direct mail appeals for donations using different identity primes in 2009-2010. Researchers found that priming a potential donor’s identity as either a previous donor to charity or as a member of their local community generated more donations.

Researchers studied the impact of physician training on the cost and quality of care in a large hospital that randomly allocated patients to teams of physicians from residency programs affiliated with one of two different medical schools. Costs for patients treated by physicians affiliated with the higher-ranked medical school were 10 percent lower than for patients treated by physicians affiliated with the lower-ranked medical school, largely due to less extensive and more prompt ordering of diagnostic tests. Despite the difference in cost, patients treated by physician teams from the different residency programs had similar health outcomes.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of a comprehensive, multi-site workplace wellness program to evaluate the program’s impact on self-reported and clinical health outcomes, health care spending and utilization, and employment outcomes. The program did not have a measurable effect on any other self-reported or clinical measures of health, health care spending or utilization, or employment outcomes.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of community-based development on political participation, public goods provision, and individual well-being in Ghana. They found that, although the community engagement program led to changes in local leadership, it was not an effective way to increase public goods provision or socioeconomic status.

This study in Western Kenya will test for failures in the market for local agricultural information and measure the impact of disseminating local information on farmers’ decisions to invest in agricultural inputs.

In partnership with Digital Green and Jeevika, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Bihar, India, to assess the impact of a video-based training on female farmers’ adoption of a climate-smart technique called System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and their yields and profits. Farmers increased their yields and estimated profits and the intervention demonstrated cost-effectiveness.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of regular informational text messages to parents on children’s academic performance. The intervention improved math grades and attendance, although it did not impact negative classroom behavior on average. These effects were generally largest for those at highest risk of dropout.