Research

In order to better inform its decision-making and ability to inform and improve education, the Foundation funds research that examines critical education issues and public opinion toward education.

Aiming to Answer Questions

The Foundation has many profound questions about the state of education and causes for current levels of academic achievement.  It hopes to use research to answer these questions and to clarify its vision and strategic choices.

Questions that may inspire the Foundation’s research include:

• What skills, knowledge, and experiences are necessary for success in the 21st century as a wage earner, lifelong learner, and engaged citizen?
  
• Who is currently learning at this level?
  
• What indicators of success could be used by the Foundation to gauge progress toward its goals?
  
• Where do opportunity gaps lead to different outcomes for different populations?
  
• Among factors such as health, employment, and housing, what benefit does education quality contribute to success?
  
• What models, approaches, and strategies have been successful in contributing to positive outcomes and for whom?  How successful have they been?
  
• What are the barriers to moving towards the most successful approaches and results across the community?  
  
• What circumstances promote sustainability, scaling up, and systems change to support large-scale change?
  
• What do constituencies, including the general public, understand about the current state of education?

Categories and Types of Research

The Foundation’s research may fit one of two primary categories and one of three primary types.

Categories of Research

Programmatic: This research will expand on the Foundation’s learning within each of its initiatives.   The research may be used to help determine what areas to focus on within each initiative by highlighting a specific programmatic need or opportunity to influence policy, build new knowledge where needed, and help the Foundation learn from its investments.  Research in each area will reflect investments in practices, policy, and public understanding.

Crosscutting:  This research will help the Foundation test, clarify, and set its mission, vision, and strategy choices.   It will focus on areas of education and education reform that inform our work and build knowledge in the field.   It may encompass issues and questions related to education reform, education in a global economy, the impediments to scale-up, etc.

Types of Research

Knowledge Gathering:  This research will gather and synthesize knowledge about a critical issue at either the crosscutting or programmatic levels.

Knowledge Creating: This research will focus on in-the-field data collection to ask key research questions in areas where current research is either entirely lacking or too weak to provide guidance to the field.  Knowledge-creating research will be conducted at both the crosscutting and programmatic levels. 

Learning from Investments: This research will primarily be in the form of evaluations of key investments.  In addition to providing information on the performance of grantees, the findings will inform the Foundation about the progress of each area of investment toward specified benchmarks.  Finally the information provided by research on investments will be of value to the field as a whole, as it learns how to create and sustain successful approaches.