Education

The combination of digital technology and human interaction has great potential to help students receive instruction that meets their individual needs.

Domain Statement

In the U.S. and around the world, education has long been an essential ingredient for individuals to achieve social and economic well being. Across multiple projects, we are working to improve the process of innovation in educational technology to create digital edtech and improve K–12 education. The lab is collaborating with organizations that provide educational tools using technology, with a particular focus on personalizing the content and experience to the individual student.

Project Abstracts

Read about some of the education research projects the lab is working on.

Academic Publications

Publication Search
Journal Article

Presidential Address: The Economist as Designer in the Innovation Process for Socially Impactful Digital Products

Susan Athey
American Economic Review April2025
Journal Article

Machine Learning Who to Nudge: Causal vs Predictive Targeting in a Field Experiment on Student Financial Aid Renewal

Susan Athey, Niall Keleher, Jann Spiess
Journal of Econometrics January2025
Working Paper

Personalized Recommendations in EdTech: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Keshav Agrawal, Susan Athey, Ayush Kanodia, Emil Palikot
December2022
Working Paper

Combining Experimental and Observational Data to Estimate Treatment Effects on Long Term Outcomes

Susan Athey, Raj Chetty, Guido W. Imbens
June172020

Academic Presentations

Watch talks given by the lab’s researchers.

Interviews & Thought Leadership

Learn firsthand from educational researchers and practitioners associated with the lab.

AI challenges core assumptions in education

Today we have no shortage of AI products, said Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor and Accelerator Faculty Affiliate Susan Athey, but we lack effective implementation and adoption. Schools and districts are slow to adopt new tools because of historical software lock-in and the opportunity costs of training teachers on systems that may fail.

Stones2Milestones: Educational Technology for Impact

Stones2Milestones (S2M) is an Indian EdTech firm that has helped over one million Indian children improve their English reading skills. They have demonstrated the effectiveness of personalization of content selection in driving engagement with a digital reading app and the impact of gamification on forming long-term learning habits.

What Really is ‘Adaptive Learning’?

The answer may vary based on which platform you currently have in mind. The edtech industry is bursting with platforms that attempt to tailor lessons and materials to individual students.