For 15 years, the development community has known about the radically high return of investing in girls’ education, yet little light has been shown on the intersection of education and adolescent girls. This report fills that gap.

The authors find that staying in school through adolescence brings immediate benefits to girls during a high-risk phase of life, and long-term benefits to families and communities.

This report highlights the unique educational needs of adolescent girls, provides a first-ever compendium of more than 300 past and current programs and spells out concrete actions for change.