Featured Grantee
"The system makes it hard for them:" Exploring the challenges and strategies for schools in supporting newcomer unaccompanied immigrant youth
By Sophia Rodriguez
Newcomer unaccompanied youth in the U.S. The United States defines an unaccompanied minor as an immigrant who is under the age of 18 and not in the care of a parent or legal guardian at the time of entry, who is left unaccompanied after entry, and who does not have a family member or legal […]
How School Finance Research Can Sharpen the Debate, Strengthen Policy, and Improve Student Outcomes
By Robert Kim
New research has the potential not only to shape the school finance debate in years ahead, but improve policies and ultimately reduce inequalities in student opportunities and outcomes.
Research Grantee David Yeager is Using a National Sample to Examine Variability in Intervention Effects
Research grantee David Yeager is studying whether an exercise that instills in students the idea that intelligence can be developed over time can reduce disparities in math achievement. While numerous studies have focused on such "growth mindset" interventions, which encourage students to think in ways that support learning, Yeager's project contributes to the literature by […]
Disrupted Lives: The Forceful Displacement of Refugee Children and New Directions for Research
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco is the Wasserman Dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. His research in cultural psychology and psychological anthropology focuses on mass migration, globalization, and education. We talked with Dr. Suárez-Orozco about the subject of his recent Foundation-sponsored grant, "Humanitarianism and Mass Migration," through which he convened a two-day workshop at […]
Reducing Inequality for English Learners: Research Questions for the Field
By Vivian Louie
At the William T. Grant Foundation, we have made it a priority to support research on reducing inequality among young people in the United States. A key area for progress is in the policies, programs and practices to reduce unequal opportunities and outcomes for English learners (ELs).
Closing the Opportunity Gap Initiative: Finding Solutions for Our Kids
Reflecting on the odds of upward mobility in light of a widening opportunity gap in the United States, Harvard's Robert Putnam states simply: "Any notion that you can 'pull yourself up by your boot straps' sounds ridiculous now."
Toward a New Research Agenda to Improve Outcomes for Adolescent English Learners
By Carola Suárez-Orozco, Vivian Louie
Systematically considering programs, practices, and policies that may move the needle in some of these important areas is the next frontier of research if we want to address inequality for this fast growing group of students.
Special Opportunity: the Stanford Data Archive and a Grants Program to Support Early-Career Researchers Studying Educational Inequality
We are collaborating with our friends at the Russell Sage Foundation to sponsor a research grants competition on educational inequality that will support a racially and ethnically diverse cadre of early-career scholars.
Making Sense of School Improvement: Research Designed for Use in State Education Agencies
By Diane Massell
It's important to recognize that the form of research contributes to the social sense-making process, and can create a body of shared understandings based on research principles. Research designed for use, with specific guidance for practice, can embed common ideas in state school improvement delivery systems.
The Push and Pull of Research: Lessons from a Multi-site Study of Research Use in Education Policy
By Christopher Lubienski, Elizabeth Debray, Janelle Scott
Despite widespread efforts by intermediaries to shape education by conveying research to policymakers, a recent study finds that very few of these policymakers report using research when making decisions. As other studies have found instances where research can shape policy and practice in a variety ways, what explains this contradiction? And what does it mean for efforts to improve the use of research evidence?
Use of Research Evidence
Measuring the Use of Research Evidence: Four Challenges for the Field
Whether it is instrumental or conceptual, research use needs to be measured in order to be understood. But what exactly are we measuring?
To Study Conceptual Use of Research, Consider Tradeoffs Among Methods
By William Penuel, Anna-Ruth Allen
Research works in subtle ways to influence policy decisions and practice. Bill Penuel and Anna-Ruth Allen outline three approaches that can help identify the uptake of ideas from research in practice.
Adam Gamoran Discusses the Challenge of Inequality and the Future of Education Research
William T. Grant Foundation President Adam Gamoran spoke to the American Educational Research Association about our focus on identifying programs, policies, and practices to reduce inequality among youth in the United States.
Sean Reardon and colleagues release the first in an ongoing series of studies based on new database that allows researchers to compare school districts across state lines
Sarah Sparks writes in EdWeek that the "new research finds an insidious cycle" and that "fifteen years of new programs, testing, standards, and accountability have not ended racial achievement gaps in the United States."
Who do School Districts Look to for Research Evidence on Programs?
Michigan State University's Jennifer and Zachary Neal are using their recent research grant to investigate the ways that research evidence is identified, evaluated, and adopted by school district leaders. The Neals lead the Michigan School Program Information Project (MiSPI), which is focused on understanding how public school administrators find information about school programs, and how […]
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