Viewing Education Policy through a Genetic Lens

This paper introduces a literature from outside the field of education research and policy that we argue has potential to enhance both policy and practice. This field, behavioral genetics, has amassed highly replicable findings spanning more than half a century. Although no necessary policy implications follow from the evidence we review here, taking a “genetic lens” may offer education researchers and policy-makers an opportunity to look at existing research in a fresh way; and to ask new questions and design new solutions. Incorporating evidence from behavioral genetics into interpretations of education and policy data can help researchers and decision makers better understand why some education policies have worked while others have not, and inform broader discussions of equality, fairness, and disadvantage in education.