Every year, Brown researchers from a diverse set of disciplines collaborate directly with Providence and Rhode Island education leaders to develop insights that confront their most pressing challenges and support their most ambitious goals. 

Together, researchers, policymakers and local educators design and carry out studies that innovate teaching practices and inform education policy. While much of that work is centered in Brown’s Department of Education and Annenberg Institute for School Reform, scholars from entities as diverse as the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute, the Policy Lab and the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs play important roles. 

Many of these partnerships are paving the way for better education and career outcomes for children in Rhode Island’s urban core.

Myriad researchers at Brown, even when they are not directly partnered with Providence public schools, are breaking new ground in understanding and confronting the challenges that PPSD and other urban school districts often face.

Whether they’re analyzing teacher retention in urban schools or developing a new national social studies curriculum that could transform high school civics, many of Brown’s education policy experts, economists and sociologists are contributing new insights into the challenges and complexities of urban schools. Their work serves to improve educational outcomes for students in Providence and other cities across the nation.