New Think Tank Seeks to Inform Education Policy With Timely Research
A new nonprofit think tank led by Linda Darling-Hammond launched last week, aiming to inform education-related policies by sponsoring high-quality research on timely topics and making the findings easy to access and interpret. This Learning Policy Institute will target PK-12 policies at the federal, state, and local level and will both examine existing studies and conduct or sponsor new research to meet pressing needs for student learning.
In her Huffington Post article announcing the initiative, Darling-Hammond pledges to prioritize whatever works best for students over any partisan agenda. “We will follow the evidence wherever it leads, and will work with those of any political affiliation or point of view who share that commitment,” she writes.
AACTE President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson said she eagerly anticipates the think tank’s impact on students as well as its potential to connect the field of educator preparation more deeply with PK-12 challenges. “This ambitious new institute is well-positioned to reorient education policy around the real needs of 21st-century learners,” she said. “In order to prepare all students for navigating the knowledge explosion of our time, we need to support them with policies that ensure equitable access to high-quality education, in environments and structures informed by research on learning, with teachers who are prepared to help every child advance.”
The Learning Policy Institute is on Twitter at @LPI_Learning and on the web at www.learningpolicyinstitute.org.
Tags: equity, federal issues, research
