Wohlstetter Wins Walton Grant to Study Income-Diverse Charters | Teachers College Columbia University

Skip to content Skip to main navigation
Skip to content Skip to content
Filed Under > Views on the News

Priscilla Wohlstetter Wins Walton Grant to Study Income-Diverse Charters

Priscilla Wohlstetter, Distinguished Research Professor
Priscilla Wohlstetter, Distinguished Research Professor
Priscilla Wohlstetter, Distinguished Research Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, has received a $1.2 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation to study student outcomes at socioeconomically diverse charter schools in New York City, Denver and Southern California. Wohlstetter will collaborate with a researcher at Temple University on the first-ever peer-reviewed study of student outcomes at "diverse by design" charter schools, which prioritize income diversity, and where instruction is mostly personalized to student needs, according to a Walton Family Foundation press release.

Earlier research by Wohlstetter found that students in many mixed-income schools outperform their traditional public school peers in English and math. The grant will support further research to better understand practices that contribute to student success and expand the body of evidence on these schools.

Wohlstetter will collaborate on the first-ever peer-reviewed study of student outcomes at "diverse by design" charter schools, which prioritize income diversity, and where instruction is mostly personalized to student needs.

“We'll be studying the outcomes of the diverse-by-design charter model – ‘what’ is being achieved – we'll also be identifying and studying programs, policies and implementation strategies to find out the ‘how’ and ‘why’ these outcomes were achieved,” Wohlstetter said. “By researching and sharing this information, we hope to inform the efforts of educators and leaders in other schools.”

In addition, the Walton Family Foundation, which is funding similar research by The Century Foundation, announced it will invest $2.2 million in the growth of mixed-income public charter schools in New York City over the next two years, allowing 2,400 additional students to attend schools combatting segregation by intentionally recruiting and serving a income-diverse student body. The “grants will directly support educators and leaders as they launch these schools,” the foundation announced.

For a story in Chalkbeat New York, click here: Diverse charter schools in New York City to get boost from Walton money. For a story in Inside Philosophy, click here: What’s So Interesting About This Walton Pledge for NYC Charter Schools?

Published Tuesday, Sep 26, 2017