Charter School Research Collaborative

About

The Charter School Research Collaborative brings together practitioners, policymakers, funders, and researchers to fund research on charter schools that is rigorous, actionable, and efficient.

Charter schools have become an increasingly prevalent educational option for students and families across the United States, currently enrolling 7% of all public school students, up from 4% in 2010. Amid this expansion, parents and policymakers alike want to know more about charter school performance. Researchers have conducted rigorous evaluations on the short-term effects of charter schools, but significant knowledge gaps still exist. 

The Collaborative disseminates funds to charter school researchers via a competitive funding process, provides technical assistance to funded researchers, hosts events to refine the research agenda, supports new research-practice partnerships, and shares learnings among funders, researchers, and practitioners. 

Learn more about applying

Partner With Us

Are you interested in participating in research but seeking a partner? Blueprint hosts quarterly virtual matchmaking sessions for charter school researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to meet and begin to develop new research partnerships.  Sign up for matchmaking

Our partnerships with policymakers, education leaders, researchers, and funders are fundamental to this Collaborative. We value our existing partnerships and are excited to develop new ones as the Collaborative grows.

Partner with Us Today

Education leaders

Types of education leaders

Blueprint welcomes inquiries from education leaders, policymakers, education nonprofits, charter management organizations, and others.

Opportunities for engagement
  • Help shape the research agenda
  • Participate in a funded research project
  • Disseminate research findings in your networks
  • Learn how to apply evidence to programs and policies
  • Looking for a new research partner? Fill out this form

Researchers

Types of researchers

Blueprint welcomes inquiries from both established and emerging researchers interested in studying charter school effectiveness.

Opportunities for engagement

Funders

Types of funders

Blueprint welcomes inquiries from funders interested in supporting this Collaborative.

Opportunities for engagement
  • Sustaining donor: Donors provide direct support for research grants.
  • Regional or topical donor: Donors who designate support toward a specific region or topic.
  • Anchor donor: Donors represent a key stakeholder in the Collaborative and are invited to regular progress meetings. 

Funded Projects

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the competitive funding process occur?

The Collaborative has a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process. Information about the RFP process is available on this page. Blueprint considers off-cycle proposals for all three types of proposals under exceptional circumstances—the applicants must face time constraints outside of their control. Off-cycle proposals will face the same scrutiny as proposals submitted during the RFP round and must include a justification for off-cycle submission.

What will the research projects focus on?

The Collaborative’s research agenda will guide funding decisions. The research agenda has been informed by conversations with more than 100 charter leaders, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and funders and continues to evolve. The research agenda can be found here.

Research Agenda

Conversations with more than 100 charter leaders, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and funders led to the development of this agenda, and the collaborative community will continue to help it evolve.

Research Agenda

Apply

The Collaborative funds proposals that investigate pressing research questions in the charter school space that can inform policy and practice. 

Apply for Funding

Subscribe

Sign up for MIT Blueprint Labs Charter Research Collaborative updates.