Education Research & Philanthropy

Education Research & Philanthropy

Working under the auspices of the American Educational Research Association, a group of education researchers and foundation officials has created a "special interest group" on education and philanthropy. Grantmakers for Education is supporting the efforts of this new group, including by hosting this page on our website.

The "Education and Philanthropy" special interest group will convene grantmakers and evaluators to reflect on lessons about research and evaluation in education grantmaking, exchange ideas on priorities for research, sponsor papers and panels about relevant topics, and meet annually in special sessions at the AERA annual conference.

The group aims to link two communities that share a common interest in addressing enduring questions in education and in promoting innovation and improvement based on the best available research. Outside of this special interest group, few mechanisms exist to foster the exchange of ideas and information beyond the normal process of proposal development and grant making. The ambition for this special interest group, therefore, is to expand and facilitate the ways these two communities interact.

Grantmakers for Education hopes this new group can evolve into a rich source of information and dialogue about effective research on a range of educational questions.

Programs and Papers
New papers:

• "A Case Study of an Urban Elementary School" by Katherine Barr (presented at 2004 AERA conference)
  This paper describes two years in the ongoing reform work of an urban elementary school, focusing on the support one coach provided the administrator and teachers as they worked to raise student achievement. It describes the challenges and opportunities the coach faced within three specific areas of focus for the school: increasing the use of data in decision making, improving literacy and creating a strong school-wide professional learning community. The paper focuses on a key issue that pervades education reform: the necessary balance between "pressure" and "support."

See the Events section of the GFE web site for information about presentations made at "Education and Philanthropy" sessions at AERA annual conferences. The AERA conference is in April of each year, and – under the listings for AERA meetings on the event calendar – GFE will post the agenda and schedule for sessions in advance and will post key papers from the sessions after they happen.

For more information
To learn more about the "Philanthropy and Education" special interest group or to become a member, contact the group's program chair, Ida Oberman (ioberman@basrc.org).

You also can register to become a member on-line at the AERA website.

Web site links with more information about education research "Education and Philanthropy" group members suggest these web sites as good resources for education research:

• Achieve
• American Educational Research Association
• American Institutes for Research
• American Statistical Association
• Association of American Colleges and Universities
• American Association for Higher Education
• Children's Defense Fund
• Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
• Council of Independent Colleges
• Council for Aid to Education
• Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation
• Public Policy Institute of California