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This website was created by the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI), part of the OECD Public Governance Directorate (GOV).

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Challenge At West Kentucky Community & Technical College (WKCTC), many students were failing or withdrawing from courses, but few used the free tutoring services available on campus. Additionally, faculty had the potential to play a large role in helping facilitate student engagement in tutoring services through referrals, but they weren’t involved enough to have an impact. Design To better connect students to campus tutoring services, a series of nine behaviorally designed emails were sent to…
Challenge Many eligible college students fail to apply for financial aid offered by the federal government altogether. Of those who do apply, many more reduce their chances of receiving aid by failing to apply by the priority deadline. In the 2013-2014 school year, more than 80% of students at Arizona State University who filed their financial aid applications did so after the priority deadline had passed, which can result in a lower aid package. This project’s goal was to increase the number…
PROJECT SUMMARY Teachers in a summer school program for high school students provided brief, individualized, messages for parents with information about their child’s performance and behavior in school on a weekly basis. IMPACT Providing parents with individualized messages increased the probability a student earned credit for each class by 6.5 percentage points – a 41% reduction in failure rates.
Small businesses were sent behaviorally-informed emails encouraging them to apply to the Growth Vouchers program. A key part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) remit is to provide support to small businesses in the United Kingdom. BIS has explored a number of initiatives to help these businesses grow. One of these initiatives was ‘Growth Vouchers’ – a program of matched funding with a £30 million budget. Businesses could apply for funding to help subsidize the…
To promote college access and affordability, education tax credits help with the cost of college by reducing the amount of tax owed. The most generous Federal higher education tax credit, the American opportunity tax credit (AOTC), is a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. Yet, many eligible students (or their families) do not claim the credit. Among eligible students, national estimates indicate that 46 percent of independent students and 56 percent of dependent students take…