Jake's research focuses on the causes and consequences of educational inequality and the evaluation of policies and programmes aimed at reducing it. This has included research projects for multiple UK government departments, such as work for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills into the transition from education into work, as well as leading the randomised evaluation of an Education Endowment Foundation project focused on improving teachers' use of formative assessment. His doctoral research consisted of three linked studies considering aspects of socio-economic inequality in access to higher education in England, considering both the point of entry to university but also its precursors. This is something Jake's more recent work has also developed, including work with a third sector organisation (who focus on tutoring and mentoring students to prepare them for university) on improving their evaluation capacity, and a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation on the importance of subject choice at age 14.