Like many, I am finally returning to live conferences after a hiatus of two years. Despite the still-ongoing pandemic, I am excited for the chance, with appropriate COVID protocols, to interact in person, to hear new ideas, and to share with others the latest aims and activities of the William T. Grant Foundation. The largest […]
President’s Comment
President’s Comment: The Annual AERA Conference and the Future of Education Research
Like many, I am finally returning to live conferences after a hiatus of two years. Despite the still-ongoing pandemic, I am excited for the chance, with appropriate COVID protocols, to interact in person, to hear new ideas, and to share with others the latest aims and activities of the William T. Grant Foundation. The largest […]
President’s Comment: Effective Programs are Not Enough, We Need Structural Change to Reduce Inequality
Since 2015, the William T. Grant Foundation has funded research on programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes. We have supported a diverse pool of highly accomplished researchers, including some who have produced affirmative causal evidence on specific ways to reduce inequality (and others who have provided equally valuable evidence on what […]
President’s Comment: Combatting Anti-Asian Violence By Confronting the Deep Roots of Racism
Many of us may have hoped that the change in administration in Washington, DC, would have lessened the pervasive climate of hostility and xenophobia that we have experienced in the United States over the past four years. After all, a change in leadership is often regarded as prelude to culture change. Tragically, White supremacy and […]
President’s Comment: Anti-Racist Education is Essential for Research Universities
In early September, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget issued a directive that barred federal agencies from providing staff training on concepts including critical race theory and White privilege. This directive, which characterized such training as “un-American propaganda” encouraged agencies to cancel contracts and divert funding from organizations that provide such opportunities. Later in […]
President’s Comment: It’s Time for Universities to Fulfill their Promise as Engines of Social Change
By institutionalizing collaborative research and building sustained knowledge-building partnerships with local service providers, universities can lead the way towards a more prosperous and equitable future.
President’s Comment: Research Can Help us Chart the Path to Racial Justice
As we make our way through this terrible time, with the health and economic devastation of the pandemic disproportionately manifested in communities of color compounded by searing examples of racial injustice, we reflect on what more we, as a funder of social science research on youth, can do to combat racial and economic inequality in […]
President’s Comment: A Message to Our Grantees
While the world grapples with the crisis of COVID-19, each of us faces challenges in our own lives. As a funder, we want to alleviate one sense of pressure you may feel: We intend to be as flexible and understanding as possible when it comes to your work.
President’s Comment: Producing Credible Knowledge in an Incredible Era
How can researchers find the motivation to continue to produce knowledge worth considering? And how can we, as supporters of research, best sustain our mission to support them?
President’s Comment: A Pioneer Among Us
Betty Hamburg was the first woman, and the first and only African American to serve as president of the Foundation, among many “firsts” in her distinguished career.
President’s Comment: The Passing of a Leader
Throughout our 82-year history, the William T. Grant Foundation has had many able leaders, starting, of course, with William T. Grant himself. Last month, we lost one of our most prominent leaders, with the passing of former Foundation president Robert J. Haggerty at the age of 92. Some of the Foundation’s most important and lasting […]
President’s Comment: Philanthropy and Education Research at AERA 2017
Recent years have witnessed important new works questioning the role of philanthropy in education research and education reform. Sparked by Rick Hess and colleagues in With the Best of Intentions (2005) and The New Education Philanthropy (2015), provocative new books such as Sarah Reckhow’s Follow the Money (2012), Megan Tompkins-Stange’s Policy Patrons (2016), and Michael […]
President’s Comment: The Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking
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.
President’s Comment: AERA Turns 100
This year, the American Educational Research Association (AREA) will celebrate its one-hundredth anniversary at its annual meeting in Washington, DC on April 8-12, 2016. Throughout its history, AERA has provided a forum for researchers to share substantive findings and methodological advances to further the field. In recent years, AERA has become increasingly engaged in the […]
President’s Comment: To Reduce Inequality, We Need More Answers
What is the current state of funding for research on inequality in the United States?
President’s Comment: The Future of Educational Inequality
One reason for all the attention to inequality these days is that, despite many efforts to improve opportunities for disadvantaged young people, inequality in many domains has been getting worse, not better. Education is one of those domains—and as someone who keeps close tabs on our education system, this is not what I expected. Back […]