Our History

The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) brings together education experts from renowned research institutions, including Teachers College, Columbia University; the University of Pennsylvania; Harvard University; Stanford University; the University of Michigan; the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Northwestern University. CPRE was created in 1985 as the first national federally funded research and development center for state and local education policy. Since then, CPRE has studied the design, implementation, and effects of hundreds of policies and programs intended to improve elementary and secondary education, and is widely considered to be among the premier university-based research organizations focused on education policy and evaluation in the world. CPRE researchers and staff at Teachers College (CPRE-TC) are continuing this long tradition by conducting rigorous research and evaluation that aims to improve education through increased effectiveness, equity, and access.

Over the past several decades, CPRE’s research has been supported through generous funding from many sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Goldman Sachs Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Merck Institute for Science Education, National Center on Education and the Economy, Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Foundation, Student Achievement Partners, General Electric Foundation, SRI International, American Museum of Natural History, the Robin Hood Foundation, Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, Fundação Lemann, and Itaú Social.