University research on education issues is about to get a new burst in funding: The Overdeck Education Innovation Fund has gifted $1 million to be distributed over the next three years by the Wilson School.
The fund is open to creative, education-related project proposals from faculty and students in all disciplines, with priority given to interdisciplinary education research. It will also give preference to research that looks into one or more of four focus areas: Early Impact, Exceptional Educators, Innovative Schools, and Inspired Minds.
Wilson School dean Cecilia Rouse said that she hopes the fund will draw “more faculty and student engagement in conducting cutting-edge education research.”
The funds from the Overdeck Family Foundation will help the University cultivate a a group of education researchers who are creatively addressing the most pressing problems in education, explained Jennifer Jennings ’00, a professor of sociology and public affairs and the director of the Education Research Section.
“All too often, education research has a very short life cycle,” Jennings said. She hopes that this fund will contribute to more long-term efforts to increase social opportunity through education.
This is the second gift of education-related funds from the Overdeck Family Foundation, the first $1 million donated in 2016. This round has welcomed more program-focused proposals that can be implemented and tested in classrooms, in hopes of increasing direct applicability.
Laura Overdeck ’91 established the Overdeck Family Foundation in 2011 with her husband, John Overdeck, a co-founder of the hedge fund Two Sigma Investments. The organization describes itself as funding innovative education programs that produce quantifiable results and help children fill their untapped potential. Its overall goal is to measurably improve outcomes for all children in the U.S. by strengthening learning in and out of school.
Overdeck, who serves on the Wilson School Advisory Council and the University’s Board of Trustees, spoke to The Daily Princetonian about her motivations behind the grant to the University.
She highlighted some recent work in early childhood education, noting the impact that family income has been shown to have on student academic ability, and how neuroscience has been able to track the rapid brain development of children ages zero to five.
“We keep learning more, but then it just makes you realize how much more we have to learn,” Overdeck said.
She added that she hopes this fund will help bridge the gaps in unexplored avenues of research, whether by identifying and offering solutions to problems in existing school structures or by finding unexpected connections in education research.
All interviewees emphasized the importance of new research in helping address disparities in educational opportunities throughout the United States and the world.
“Particularly at this moment in time, schools and public schools are serving as key social institutions that bring people together across disparate social backgrounds and try to level the playing field,” Jennings said.
Overdeck expressed her concern that children from more privileged backgrounds generally have access not only to better schools, but also better academic opportunities outside of school, amounting to a “double whammy” of lost opportunity.
Grant proposals for projects requesting $5,000 to $20,000 are due by Nov. 12, with results decided by faculty committee on Dec. 17. Grant proposals for projects requesting under $5,000 have no due date.
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