Research shows drastic differences in academic performance - and later life outcomes - between those who grow up in low-income households and others, as well as between ethnic minorities and whites. We examined organizations fighting to close this gap by improving the quality of K-12 education (note that we also did a separate report on organizations focused on caring for children before the age of five).

The organizations in this area are working on a difficult problem, seeking to address a gap that is significant and deep-rooted (in fact it is a gap that is visible by the age of five - see our overview for more on this). Most of the organizations we looked at were unwilling or unable to provide rigorous empirical evidence that they have improved academic outcomes for disadvantaged children; two organizations, the Knowledge is Power Program and Teach For America, made convincing cases, and we recommend them to donors. A more detailed overview of our reasoning is available here.

Recommendations

Our recommended organizations are below; if you would like to donate to one, you can do so using the appropriate "Donate now through Network for Good" link. Please note that the entire donation process is handled by Network for Good, a service that has processed over $100 million in donations since 2001. GiveWell has no involvement in the donation process, and collects no fees on it.

1. Knowledge is Power Program (Grant Winner). KIPP is a network of more than 50 charter schools (mostly grades 5-8) across the U.S., including 4 in New York City, focusing on improving academic outcomes for disadvantaged youth. All students in a school's vicinity are eligible for admission, which is determined by random lottery, and tuition is free. KIPP pays for its operations through a combination of funds from the local public school system and donations; we estimate that KIPP spends $1,000-5,000 per student (excluding per-pupil funding KIPP receives directly from the government, which accounts for an additional $10,000-$15,000 per student).

   Two quasi-experimental studies and our own analysis of all publicly available test data give us moderate confidence that KIPP is improving its students' academic performance in a significant and measurable way (one that shows up in test scores), and that it is doing so consistently across its large national network of schools. Donate now through Network for Good

2. Teach For America. TFA recruits, trains and places recent college graduates in low-income public schools across the country; the aim is both to provide quality teachers in the short term and to recruit talented people into the education sector in the long term. (Note that the goal of drawing talented people into the education sector is implicitly a goal of recruiting them away from other pursuits; whether this goal is a net positive or net negative to society more broadly is an open question.)

   We have no substantial information on TFA's long term impact, other than anecdotes of particular TFA graduates who have made contributions to the field of education. There is a compelling research case, however, regarding the short-term goal: TFA teachers perform at least as well as - and in some cases slightly better than - the teachers they are replacing, in terms of student improvement on standardized test scores. Donate now through Network for Good

Click here for a more detailed overview of our reasoning