Harpel Initiative

Increasing Human Capital in a Generation: Using Technology to Improve Instruction and Expectations

The Center for Human Potential and Public Policy is the home for an exciting new initiative to improve the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of primary school children in Sao Paulo, Brazil by improving educational instruction. This project was inspired, and is supported, by Dean’s International Council member, James W. Harpel. The research team for the project is cross-disciplinary and is comprised of a number of the Center’s faculty affiliates. In order to improve educational instruction, the research team will implement a large-scale, random assignment computer-aided instruction intervention in public schools in which children will receive two hours of math and two hours of literacy instruction per week. The initiative will also provide teacher training. Because Sao Paulo is representative of large urban school systems in middle-development nations, a program that improves educational outcomes here will not only benefit the children of Sao Paulo, but will also likely be useful to many other countries. Consequently, this project has the possibility of benefiting millions of children worldwide.

Harpel Initiative Team

Principal Investigator

Susan E. Mayer
Dean and Professor, The Harris School of Public Policy Studies

Research Team

Flavio Cunha
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Robert W. Fairlie
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Ariel Kalil
Associate Professor, The Harris School of Public Policy Studies

Jens Ludwig
Professor, School of Social Service Administration, The Harris School of Public Policy Studies, and The Law School

Alicia Menendez
Research Associate, The Harris School of Public Policy Studies

Marcos Rangel
Assistant Professor, The Harris School of Public Policy Studies

Project Coordinators

Brian Clark
Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives

Laurel Spindel
Associate Director, Center for Human Potential and Public Policy