The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a five-year contract to Learning Point Associates, of Naperville, Ill., to conduct research on charter schools and create a National Charter School Resource Center.
Housed at Learning Point’s offices in Washington, the center will provide services to support and help develop charter schools across the country. Steven M. Ross, a researcher from Johns Hopkins University, is heading the project.
The collaborative effort involves six other organizations: the American Institutes for Research, in Washington; Collaborative Communications Group Inc., also of Washington; the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center; Forum One Communications, of Alexandria, Va.; Public Impact, of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and SRI International, of Menlo Park, Calif.
The EPE Research Center, which will operate the new center’s Web site, is a division of the Bethesda, Md.-based nonprofit corporation that publishes Education Week.
According to a press release last week from Learning Point, the charter resource center will coordinate and conduct research, develop and disseminate research-based products, offer technical assistance, and help practitioners and policymakers develop and expand their knowledge of effective charter school practices.
The effort, worth $2 million the first year, is being financed by the Education Department’s office of innovation and improvement.
