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Three William T. Grant Scholars have been awarded grants to support their development as mentors to junior colleagues. The Scholars will mentor promising post-doctoral fellows in enhancing their methodological skills, publication records, and career networks. The grant reflects the Foundation’s dedication to fostering our Scholars’ professional development as mentors and increasing the number of people of color at higher levels of the career ladder in research.
Five new research grants will build stronger theory and empirical evidence in our focus areas of reducing inequality and the use of research evidence.
Research can serve the public interest when it is used to inform decisions. But for researchers at all levels of the career ladder, getting your work used in ways that shape policy and practice can be a challenge.
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.”
The Commission on Evidence-based Policymaking is an opportunity that doesn’t come every year, and may not come again. Let’s make the most of it.
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.
Apply For Youth Services Improvement Grants: Deadline for Applications is September 8, 2016
The William T. Grant Foundation’s Youth Service Improvement Grants support nonprofit organizations in the five boroughs of New York City. These awards of $25,000 help improve programs and services for youth ages 5 to 25. The online application opens July 14, 2016. All applications must be received by September 8, 2016 at 3:00 p.m.
New Resources for Researchers: Read the “William T. Grant Digest” Issue 1
The introductory issue of the William T. Grant Foundation Digest features essays and commentary on the value of qualitative and mixed-methods research in reducing inequality and the potential for researcher access to big data to yield useful research evidence.
Read Our 2015 Annual Report
Just released, our 2015 Annual Report highlights notable work from the past year, including profiles of exemplary grantees from each of our programs and details about our ongoing efforts to identify responses to inequality and improve the use of research evidence.
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.
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.
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?
Whether it is instrumental or conceptual, research use needs to be measured in order to be understood. But what exactly are we measuring?
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.
Understanding the role knowledge plays in decision making processes is less like hearing one instrument in an orchestral texture than understanding how fine tuning each instrument can influence the overall sound.