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Transforming the World through Education

The United States faces both a crisis and an opportunity in its public education system.  The spotlight on schooling today reflects the nation’s discontent with the current system and an urgency to reform it. High school drop-out rates are high, we lag behind much of the world in math and science achievement, and our schools, once a source of national pride, are failing under-served children who most need them. Concerns about the country’s economic well-being and competitiveness in this global economy are also stronger than ever, putting educators under tremendous pressure to help all students achieve high standards so they are prepared to compete in the world. These goals are particularly ambitious given increased immigration, including many students with limited English proficiency. Despite the challenges, we must invest in reforming our system based on what we know helps children succeed. In the United States and beyond, education is a key component to a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous world. Increasing the quality of education for all children requires our immediate attention and problem solving.

Within this complex educational context, the Stanford School of Education is having a significant impact. We are integral to The Stanford Challenge’s Initiative on Improve K-12 Education as we aim to help solve some of the nation’s most pressing problems in education. In addition, improving global human well-being is at the heart of the campaign’s International Initiative and is central to our core mission: to find solutions to the educational challenges of the nation and the world. We are committed to developing new knowledge about effective educational policies and practices and to preparing leaders who will use that knowledge productively to make quality education accessible worldwide.

Unlike most schools of education, which are known for contributing to research or for the training of practitioners, Stanford’s School of Education faculty are rigorous researchers and directly involved in efforts to improve education practice. Rather than simply suggest how others should transform their practices based on our ideas, we have developed programs designed to ensure that our proposed solutions work, to document how and why they work, and to help others learn to implement such practices at scale. The charter schools in East Palo Alto that we manage and other programs that involve us directly in school and community reform efforts serve as the ultimate accountability for all of our work. Our unique approach helps us tackle the critical challenges of pre K-12 education, which is central to The Stanford Challenge’s Initiative to Improve K-12 Education.

Transforming education is a daunting task, but the school has many of the strengths necessary to meet these challenges: eminent education faculty who are committed to doing research that is informed by and informs the real world of education, extraordinarily talented graduate students, an educational community eager to collaborate, and a university that shares our vision. We are dedicated to ensuring that all of these strengths and resources are used productively to make the improvements in education that are so desperately needed. Those of us fortunate enough to have access to a quality education know what a difference educational opportunities make in giving us life choices. The possibilities for transforming societies through education are endless. We hope you will join us on our quest to make lasting change.

Deborah J. Stipek
The I. James Quillen Dean and
Professor of Education