Many decades of education research have identified strategies that improve education outcomes for all students and yield substantial returns for both individuals and taxpayers. As disparities in educational opportunity and outcomes by race/ethnicity and income persist, and the nation undergoes significant demographic changes, this body of evidence has become especially critical to outlining education policy decisions moving forward. It provides a compelling, research-based case for why devoting more public funds to education is a good social investment.

Proven Educational Interventions

This study summarizes the evidence on the net benefits to society of education interventions across multiple areas, including enrollment and completion in early childhood, secondary, and higher education; school integration; and accelerated or comprehensive programs such as community schools and socioemotional learning initiatives. Interventions in these areas are both effective and equitable—improving targeted outcomes while reducing racial and income-based disparities. When paired with their economic evaluations, the findings show that they have returns that are very substantial—generating net benefits to the taxpayer ranging from approximately $2 to over $10 for every dollar invested.

Persistent Educational Inequities, Demographic Shifts, and their Consequences

Why this evidence is important is twofold. First, previous efforts to reduce gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes by race/ethnicity and by income background—i.e., to alter the links between demography, educational demography, and aggregate outcomes—fell short, as sizable inequities have persisted. Second, the country is undergoing a profound demographic transformation. Individuals from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds are becoming the majority, the White population is declining, and the youth population is shrinking: by 2060 the population will include 64 million more individuals from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, 33 million fewer White individuals, and 8 million fewer children and youth, according to the latest U.S. Census projections.

Building on the existing evidence, the study outlines two starkly contrasting paths forward for the country. On the one hand, maintaining the current course would lead to worsened educational and economic aggregate outcomes for the U.S., which would growingly reflect those of individuals from historically disadvantaged backgrounds and the deep-seated and persistent inequalities in opportunities to learn they experience.

On the other hand, pursuing an equity-centered agenda, at scale, that improves educational opportunities and outcomes for all individuals would present an opportunity to activate the potential of the growing majorities. This choice would not only address long-standing inequities but also yield substantial net benefits for the nation as a whole. The simulations for the gains to the taxpayer to improving education participation and outcomes for Black and Hispanic children, bringing them closer to the levels of White children, suggest increased net benefits ranging from $20.2 to $72.6 billion per year. For example, increasing early childhood education (ECE) enrollment rates of Black and Hispanic children to the level of White children would lead to about 136,000 additional children enrolled in ECE per year, and to an increased net benefit to the general public of about $40.9 billion per year.

Lessons Learned to Help Advance an Equity-focused Agenda

The study issues multiple considerations that are informed by the existing evidence. The economic evaluations suggested numerous additional lessons learned around essential conditions for the investments to yield returns. For example, the quality, intensity, and duration of the interventions are important, as higher benefit-to-cost ratios are usually associated with more resource-intense programs and those with stronger dosage effects and/or with longer exposure. In addition, while the benefits are often larger for the most disadvantaged children, all participants can reap significant benefits, or, at the very least, experience no harm, so that improving the human capital of any group results in broader societal benefits. While the use of economic evaluation has greatly expanded, policy guidance would greatly benefit from making it an essential component of the toolkit used to uncover the full returns and their distribution of any new investments.

This study also finds answers in the existing literature to caveats around programs’ scalability, accountability, or the gap in time between when the costs are faced and when the benefits are happening, which could become obstacles in supporting these investments at scale. For example, the evidence shows that sustained gains in generalized and large settings are feasible. It also shows how to overcome implementation problems, changing participant and/or technology conditions that influence their effectiveness and/or generalizability. Similarly, it discusses the role other public investments—ranging from access to health care, childcare, housing, social services and broader economic policies—may play in providing equal educational opportunities.

Conclusion

Investing in the education of all children is not only a long-standing moral imperative but also an increasingly strategic economic decision, particularly in light of the nation’s need to equip all children to contribute to its future prosperity. The empirical evidence is clear: educational investments at scale would yield substantial public returns. And while the monetary metrics are compelling, it is the vision of a more just and prosperous society—with reduced inequality, a more dynamic economy, and enhanced well-being—that truly underscores the enduring value of such investments.

This report was produced by the UCLA Civil Rights Project and originally published on their site on December 3, 2025.