Centers & Research
The Center for African Education promotes research and teaching about education, broadly defined, in Africa and the African Diaspora. Its central aim is to create a community of students, faculty, and staff with common interests and commitments to the fields of Education and African Studies. Interdisciplinary study and discussion across Teachers College and Columbia University are promoted through research projects, conferences, lecture series, and courses. The Center integrates the study of African education in different programs at the College. It also promotes linkages with African universities by hosting visiting scholars, policy makers, practitioners, and activists who will present their research and experience from different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The Center provides a forum for students to discuss their research and interests with African scholars, Africanist faculty, and colleagues at conferences, public lectures, and seminars. It is also preparing to undertake joint activities with educational institutions and international organizations in New York City and with universities, research centers and non-government organizations in Africa, Latin America and other regions of the world. In accordance with Teachers College's main focus on education, psychology and health, the Center will pursue problems within these domains as well as contribute to the College's understanding and promotion of educational equity.
The Center on Chinese Education, Teachers College Columbia University (CoCE) is aimed at contributing to a better understanding of education in China and to educational exchange between the United States and China. It seeks to achieve this mission through three categories of activities: research and development, education and training, as well as outreach and exchange. These activities will draw upon the historically special relationship between Chinese education and Teachers College, the interests and expertise of the faculty at Teachers College, as well as expertise and resources outside of Teachers College. Major funding for the Center's activities is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Contact: Mun C. Tsang
E-mail: mct27@columbia.edu
The Community College Research Center (CCRC) was established in 1996 with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and is housed within the Institute on Education and the Economy (IEE). The main purpose of the CCRC is to frame critical questions concerning the fundamental purposes, problems, and performance of community colleges, and chart a course for strengthening scholarly research on the future of these important institutions.
'When we speak of the transition from school to work, we will be speaking more often of the community college,' says Professor Thomas R. Bailey, who is also Director of the Center. 'When we speak of retraining our nation's labor force, we will also be speaking more often of the community college.'
The Center has taken a broad and comprehensive view of the community college over the course of the grant, but focused primarily on the roles of
community colleges in workforce and economic development. The specific purposes of the Center are to: (1) synthesize existing research on the roles community colleges have been playing and the extent and determinants of their effectiveness within those; (2) formulate and answer new research questions on important issues confronting the community college sector; (3) begin exploration of alternative policies and directions for community colleges; (4) attract new researchers to the field and solidify a network of community college practitioners and scholars; and (5) suggest directions for data collection. The Center draws on expertise from a national advisory panel of community college practitioners, policy makers, and research scholars. The Center funds fellowships to doctoral students who are interested in writing dissertations on community college issues. The fellowship recipients work at the CCRC and participate in research projects. Reports of research findings, occasional papers, and non-technical Briefs are available through the CCRC website, or for a nominal cost.
The Institute on Education and the Economy (IEE) is an interdisciplinary policy research center that focuses its attention on the interaction between education and the economy. The Institute is dedicated to carrying out research that will help improve educational policy and practice at the local, state, and national levels and to developing an active research community of TC students and faculty interested in these topics. IEE's research agenda includes issues such as the changes in the nature, organization, and skill requirements of work; education reforms designed to address the changing needs of the workplace; the educational value of work; learning on the job; the school-to-work model; the design and effectiveness of work-based learning, employer participation in education; academic and industry-based skill standards; and related education reforms. IEE is directed by Professor Thomas Bailey, an economist in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies. The Institute's permanent staff includes sociologists, economists, and psychologists. Several Teachers College faculty and faculty from other schools at Columbia as well as other universities and research organizations also work with the Institute. IEE also offers many opportunities for graduate students to work on research projects under the guidance of faculty and senior researchers. Recent activities have included the development of joint faculty-student study groups on work-based learning and on community colleges. Staff at the Institute have been influential in the development and implementation of the School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994 and the Educate America, Goals 2000 Act of 1994.Reports of research findings, working papers, and non-technical Briefs are available through the IEE website, or for a nominal cost. The Institute also houses the Community College Research Center (see the description of the Community College Research Center).
Contact: Thomas Bailey
E-mail: tb3@columbia.edu
The National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education (NCSPE) serves as a non-partisan venue to analyze and disseminate information about the contentious private initiatives in education that include vouchers, charter schools and educational contracting. Proponents of privatization view the movement as improving school choice, student outcomes and innovation through competition in the marketplace. They point to the poor performance of urban schools and how competition converts failure into success. Opponents argue that the movement undermines already flagging urban public schools, depriving the system of motivated students and scarce resources to bring about reform and runs counter to the establishment clause embodied in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Currently there is no disinterested authority to test and verify the conflicting claims of proponents and opponents, leaving the debate to those who argue on ideological grounds rather than empirical data. In evaluating different privatization plans, the center uses four criteria: the freedom for parents to choose schools that mirror their values and religious beliefs; productive efficiency that maximizes school results; equity that provides access for all to the range of educational opportunities, and social cohesion that prepares youngsters for democratic and civic participation. The Privatization Center is affiliated with the Department of International and Transcultural Studies. Its Director is Henry M. Levin, William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education. The Center disseminates its research, policy analysis through conferences, the World Wide Web, publications and the media. It also has entered a partnership with the education commission of the states to provide information to governors, state legislatures and state departments of education.
Contact: Henry Levin
E-mail: levin@exchange.tc.columbia.edu
