Broad Foundation Awards Major Grant to Roland Fryer
Philanthropist Eli Broad and Harvard Economics Professor Roland Fryer have
formed an initiative through the Broad Foundation to support the creation of
"The Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University." The "EdLabs"
will be an independent research laboratory to be housed under the auspices
of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) within the Faculty
of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
The $44 million, multi-year agreement was announced at a press conference on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, and will bring together economists and educators to study and research strategies to improve public school education. With this grant, the EdLabs will be partnering with urban school districts in New York, Washington, and Chicago on incentive programs and other innovative methods to improve gaps in students' academic performance, and to test different educational programs in each city. President Clinton described the project as one of three recent initiatives most important to improving the global problems of health and poverty.
The lab will incorporate many members of Professor Fryer’s American Inequality Lab, currently housed at the Du Bois Center. Additional staff will also be hired to support this project. Professor Fryer's complete EdLabs team will be moving to a separate location at 44 Brattle Street in the coming months.
For more information on this initiative, please contact Prof. Fryer's faculty
assistant, Kate Penner, at 617-384-9392 or by e-mailing kpenner@edlabs.harvard.edu.
You can also find more information through the following web sites:
The Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University (IQSS) Research in Progress: Former President Clinton Commends Dr. Fryers Ed Labs
Harvard Crimson, "Broad Taps Fryer To Lead New Ed Center," September 25, 2008
Edward L. Glaeser, Boston Globe - Opinion, "Educating ourselves about education," October 3, 2008.
© 2007 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College