ABOUT – Center For Education Opportunity

The Center for Educational Opportunity examines the barriers to educational access and attainment for fragile families. We seek out the best practices that will impact the way educators, policymakers and stakeholders provide educational opportunity and choice. Our academic research has real-world relevance.

We endeavor for the Center for Educational Opportunity to become a premier resource for education reform solutions and believe our efforts have the power to help transform lives.

Founded on April 13, 2018, the Center of Educational Opportunity is funded by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Center for Advancing Opportunity and located on the campus of Albany State University, a public historically black college and university (HBCU) in Albany, Georgia.

Engage

faculty and students at HBCUs in research activities to better understand the characteristics of high quality education for families living in fragile communities; thus, leading to improved educational opportunities.

Deploy

bottom-up approaches to educational inquiry via engagement of stakeholders (i.e. communities, students, parents, teachers, administrators, organizations, and education partners) in research that is action- and impact-oriented; thus, leading to long-term societal change.

Promote

educational seminars, workshops, training and recruiting activities that support faculty and students at HBCUs in the utilization of research methods; thus, leading to sustained research pipeline.

Investigate

barriers (internal and external) faced by communities that seek access to high quality education for their families; thus, leading to policy signals to local, regional, state, and national organizations.

Mission

We exist to advance educational research in order to strengthen and empower fragile communities from the bottom up.

Vision

Communities formerly considered as fragile will demonstrate strong measurable indicators of societal well-being; they will become highly competitive with domestic and foreign competition; and will have a skilled well-educated workforce. Improved access to education exists; barriers have been reduced; family autonomy and educational choice is present.

While Albany State University is located in the state of Georgia, the Center aims to establish new, and sustain existing partnerships with local, state, and national research organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Core Values

Inquiry – We are researchers who aim to and, discover, and uncover educational models, innovations, and opportunities that provide access to high-quality education for families living in fragile communities.

Integrity – We support research findings that are true, fact-based, and honest. Research discoveries and outcomes should be driven by legitimate research methods and designs.

Innovation – We embrace ‘creative destruction’; that is, we recognize the important role that innovation plays in education and the need to remain vigilant in keeping up-to-date with trends in education.

Integration – We value integration across disciplines, across cultures, across socio-economic lines, across sectors, and across educational choices. We believe that a better-educated community will result in a better-prepared workforce, and a better society.

Impact – Research that is action-oriented and impact-based allows us to study and observe outcomes that serve as solutions to educational challenges with shared data findings. In doing so, the deployment of solutions is strategic and timely.

Research Pillars

Four pillars of inquiry identify themes where we believe Historically Black Colleges and Universities are uniquely qualified to provide evidence-based research and greater understanding that informs and influences policy. Our aim is to attract and encourage collaborative, bottom-up research with and among the nation’s HBCUs in order to achieve the greatest societal impact through changes in policy.

Educational Opportunities

to research both pedagogy and policy approaches that can be used to increase opportunities to education.

Educational Models

to investigate unique educational models that bring about the greatest educational impact.

Educational Access

to understand the importance of outcomes-driven education that meets the needs of the ever-changing student and community populations.

Educational Innovation

to research and study the barriers to success and how the use of innovative approaches can develop principled educators and prepared students.