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Who We Are

The Rural Education Action Program (REAP) is a multidisciplinary team of social scientists working towards a common goal: help China's underserved population reach their full potential. To meet this goal, we partner with pioneering minds in pediatrics, psychology, global health, education, and economics to learn what works elsewhere in the world, adapt interventions to the Chinese context, then test their effectiveness.

Why Focus on China?

In China, three out of every four children grow up in rural areas. They have worse schooling and health outcomes than their urban counterparts, and lack the opportunities and resources that urban Chinese enjoy, yet China relies on their labor to drive economic growth, and on their happiness to maintain political stability.

In other words, the future of rural China will shape China’s economic and political trajectory, which will in turn affect the global economy.

REAP aims to help underserved children in China reach their full potential and become happy and healthy members of a global economy. In our interconnected world, their future will impact us all.

An Introduction to REAP

We Cultivate Research Networks and Advance Capacity with Partners in China

We are at the cutting edge of impact research and evaluation, searching for evidence-based interventions that are both cost-effective and scalable. Over the course of several decades, our team has built a vast network of partner universities, institutions, faculty, and practitioners who team up with Stanford researchers to implement new projects and test out new ideas.

REAP is committed to nurturing future research talent working on China. Every year, REAP provides field research and quantitative methods training to hundreds of students in China and in the US. Many of our current team leaders and faculty members began their careers with REAP as survey enumerators, reflecting our focus on career development and capacity building within our network.

Policy Impact

At REAP, our goal is policy change. Once we know which interventions work and which ones do not, we share our results with local, regional, and national policymakers across China, who can take steps to ensure successful strategies are picked up and implemented more broadly.

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Research

Here at REAP, we focus our research on improving the health, education, and social mobility of China’s underserved populations. From early childhood interventions to teenage mental health, REAP looks at the problems that matter.

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Support our Work

Our goal is to actualize change in the lives of China's rural children and to ensure their future potential. Learn more about donating to support REAP's work.

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General Inquiries:
info-sccei@stanford.edu
650-724-9254

Mailing Address:
Rural Education Action Program
616 Jane Stanford Way E501
Stanford, CA 94305-6055