...Despite a myriad of new government programs and spending over the last 40 years, the system has failed to improve economic and social well-being for an astonishingly large segment of the American population. There is a different way forward, focused on increasing the effectiveness of existing funds. This way forward could be an excellent fit as the administration and Congress ponder a second-term agenda for President Obama with little new money to spend…

…Scientifically rigorous studies – particularly, the “gold standard” of randomized controlled trials – are a mainstay of medicine, providing conclusive evidence of effectiveness for most major medical advances in recent history. In social spending, by contrast, such studies have only a toehold. Where they have been used, however, they have demonstrated the same ability to produce important, credible evidence about what works – and illuminated a path to major progress.

A recent example is the large randomized trial of a program that provides streamlined, personal assistance, through H&R Block offices, to low- and moderate- income families in completing their children’s college financial aid application. The program, costing just $90 per person, increased college attendance by a remarkable 29 percent over a four-year period, compared to a control group of families not receiving the assistance, according to a study by the economists Eric Bettinger, Bridget Terry Long, Philip Oreopoulos and Lisa Sanbonmatsu.

Another such trial has shown that so-called career academies in low-income high schools – providing students with a smaller, career-themed learning community of like-minded peers – raised their earnings by $2,200 per year over the eight years after high school, compared with a control group...

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