One of the key challenges for the neurosciences is to become faster and more effective at producing evidence that transforms health and education-related practice. Neuroscientific studies of neuronal markers hold promise for more successful health and education policies. The obstacles to making predictions from brain data involve producing more generalizable, robust results; establishing communication channels with education and healthcare decision-makers and professionals; and addressing ethical issues that arise from making such predictions. The present article focuses on a specific type of evidence: functional brain data obtained from noninvasive brain imaging to predict developmental and clinical outcomes. Recent studies will be discussed in the light of the evidence generated for predicting language outcomes and of using new methods of analysis of brain data.