Underserved Potential

The ideas, research, and actions from across Harvard University aimed at making education a pathway to success for everyone.

Explore this series

How COVID taught America about inequality in education

Remote learning turned a spotlight on gaps in resources, funding, and tech—but also offered hints on reform.

Why is an equitable education so important?

Harvard’s Ronald Ferguson, director of The Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University, says education may be the key to solving broader American inequality, but we have to solve educational inequality first.

Personal essay

Tauheedah Baker-Jones

“As educators, we are charged with creating engaged citizens who uphold our democratic and pluralistic ideals,” says the Ed School alum and Atlanta Public Schools Chief Equity and Social Justice Officer.

Better college access for Native people

Only about 14% of Native American people attend college, and many often don’t graduate. Tarajean Yazzie-Mintz, currently the CEO of First Light Education, has spent decades trying to lower the many barriers facing Native young people as they try to access higher education.

Profile

Here to learn

Shirley Vargas is harnessing the power of Nebraska’s state education agencies to create solutions that work for every student. “We have to make sure that what we’re doing is actually in the best interest of students,” said the School of Education alum.

Read the To Serve Better profile

Where we’re focused

These are just a few of the initiatives Harvard Schools have created to take on these important issues.

Harvard initiatives

Areas for improvement

Turning the tide in educational inequity

Wave Learning Festival, an online educational hub launched by a group of Harvard students, offers free online tutoring during the school year and dozens of courses, covering a wide variety of subjects, over the summer.

Addressing inequalities in education through policy, research, and practice

Harvard experts discuss inequalities among social groups in schools and society, with a focus on racial, economic, social, and cultural differences, and the role of education in the lives of all youth.

Watch the Harvard Radcliffe Institute video

Measuring implicit bias in schools

A new study finds evidence that teachers’ implicit bias may lead to unequal student outcomes.

Read the School of Education article

A leader's guide to talking about bias

How a binary view of racism can inhibit productive conversations about race in school settings.

Read the School of Education article

Racial stratification and school segregation in the suburbs: the case of Los Angeles county

This paper proposes that strong racial preferences spur white and Asian suburban families to send their children to non-assigned schools with long commutes.

Improving the odds

Harvard Graduate School of Education alum Erica Mosca founded Leaders in Training (LIT) in 2012, an organization that helps prospective first-generation college students from East Las Vegas high schools finish their degrees and work toward becoming leaders in their home state.

Read the To Serve Better profile

A new book helps teachers and principals confront their own racism

Interview with Sarah Fiarman and Tracey Benson, former school principals and HGSE graduates, who co-wrote “Unconscious Bias in Schools: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism” to help teachers and school leaders start conversations about race in schools.

Ibram X. Kendi discusses antiracism in education

Antiracist scholar Ibram X. Kendi took part in the online discussion about antiracism in higher education.

What COVID taught us about teaching

The coronavirus crisis illuminated long-standing inequities in US education that experts are working to address.

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Unequal

“Unequal” is a multipart series highlighting the work of Harvard faculty, staff, students, alumni, and researchers on issues of race and inequality across the United States.

Upward Immobility

The ideas, research, and actions aimed at creating equitable opportunities for success and prosperity.

A map of boston with the segregated neighborhoods highlighted.

Environmental Exposure

Finding solutions to climate change, pollution, and environmental contamination for all communities.

Democratic Deficits

Exploring the inequality in our democratic institutions and representative elections.

Criminal Injustice

Creating a more equitable criminal justice system.

a line of police approaching people with their hands up