For low-income and minority students, education is the key to success and upward mobility. But evidence has shown in past decades that education has not been acting as the Great Equalizer. The Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research speaker series brings to light the most promising research illuminating the educational pathways to upward mobility. The series features some of the nation’s top scholars who are uncovering innovative and insightful evidence about what inhibits and enhances mobility.

The series will contribute to a new synthesis of findings informing education and social mobility policy and practice in the coming years. This goal is aligned with the long-term mission of the Equity Project at AIR, which is to work with others to open the doors of opportunity for all children and young adults. Please join us in welcoming our first speaker, Isabel V. Sawhill.

Dr. Sawhill is a senior fellow in economics studies at the Brookings Institution, where she serves as co-director of the Center on Children and Families. She will talk about the center's recent work on the Social Genome Project—an endeavor that tracks the academic, social and economic experiences of individuals from birth through middle age. Dr. Sawhill and her colleagues hope to identify what determines success in each stage of the lifecycle.

A wine and cheese reception will follow the lecture.