Jane's research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the determinants of social, economic and racial inequality and to inform policies to improve outcomes for the traditionally disadvantaged. A central theme is evaluating how peers affect student outcomes and how alternative peer groupings contribute to achievement gaps.

The Leverhulme Prize was awarded to support continuing research into the role of peers in shaping children's outcomes. One strand of this work considers how peer spillovers vary as students age. A second strand considers the role of parents, both in creating classroom spillovers and in shaping how students respond to their peers.