Discover: To discover educational policies and practices that make educational opportunity universal.

We discover educational policies and practices that extend the ladder of opportunity to all children. Our role is to generate, nourish, and sustain the connective tissue that brings together our campus community—faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates alike—to study and solve educational problems. 

We facilitate interdisciplinary research through weekly seminars, provide critical seed funding for innovative research projects, collaborate with policymakers and practitioners to make educational discoveries, and build bridges that put research findings into practice through biannual conferences.

Prepare: To prepare lifelong educational stewards.

We prepare Princeton students, irrespective of the fields which they enter, to serve as lifelong stewards of the education systems that will shape our next generation’s life chances. Accomplishing this goal involves expanding opportunities for academic work related to education for any Princeton student who wants to learn more about education policy, or who seeks to incorporate an academic backbone into their education-related extracurricular activities.  

For students seeking more intensive study, we currently are developing an undergraduate education policy program to provide a tight-knit academic community to train the next generation of educational policymakers, researchers, and innovators. The certificate’s intellectual fulcrum will involve connecting coursework and independent work to real research needs in the education community. We serve as a matchmaker by identifying research projects well-suited for semester-long policy task forces or “clinic” courses, and connecting student independent work to projects that can make a difference.

Unite: To unite Princeton alumni working in diverse fields in a sustained effort for educational improvement.

Princeton’s commitment to a life of service finds expression in opportunities for alumni to use their talents, alongside fellow alumni and students, to help education leaders meet their needs for timely research and evaluation, as well as thought partnership and strategic planning. Central to these efforts are “Alumni Expeditions,” through which alumni collaborate for 2-5 days to complete these projects.