Black Education Research Center

Welcome to the Black Education Research Center (BERC) at Teachers College, Columbia University. Thank you for taking a moment to visit our website and learn more about our work.

Founded in August of 2017, BERC is a collective of scholars focused on education research at the intersections of Black history, culture, politics, and leadership. We are research faculty,  postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students and alumni of Teachers College and other institutions devoted to enriching Black education through transdisciplinary research, cross-sector collaboration, and policy advocacy.

Our mission (what we do) is to conduct, translate, and disseminate research that leads to improved educational opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for Black children and youth. We are excited about the current projects we have underway and the integration of Black educational experiences, research perspectives, political interests, and cultural values into the critical conversations taking place on racial equity, anti-racism, and social justice in education.

Although we face great challenges ahead in our collective efforts to ensure the effective and genuine education of children and youth across the African Diaspora, we take great joy and hope in the possibility of what we can explore, imagine, and accomplish together.

Sincerely,

Sonya Douglass, Ed.D.
Founding Director, Black Education Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University