Education

Adam Gamoran to Lead William T. Grant Foundation

By Sarah D. Sparks — February 20, 2013 1 min read
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Adam Gamoran will step in as president of the William T. Grant Foundation in September, taking over from longtime leader Robert C. Granger.

Gamoran, now a professor of sociology and education policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, studies school reform and equity in education. He edited the 2007 book, Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap: Lessons for No Child Left Behind. He is also an outspoken member of the National Board for Education Sciences, which advises the U.S. Department of Education’s research agency.

“This organization has a long history of high-impact grantmaking, which has resulted in real improvements in policies, programs, and practices that help young people thrive, especially those who face challenging circumstances,” Gamoran said in a statement. “I am privileged to have the chance to carry on this legacy.”

Outgoing President Bob Granger chatted with me during a recent NBES meeting, reflecting on his tenure and the future of the New York City-based Grant Foundation, which supports research to “improve the lives of youth ages 8 to 25.”

Granger said the foundation is becoming much more interested in partnerships between researchers and practitioners, in line with the Institute Of Education Sciences’ partnership priorities. The quality of education research has improved significantly in the last decade, Granger said, but in terms of making that research useful for practitioners, “relevance is still a bit of an Achilles heel. The metaphor of taking research to practice is part of the problem; practitioners really need to be much more involved from the outset.”

A version of this news article first appeared in the Inside School Research blog.