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The Project on Private Initiatives in Public Education

The Project on Private Initiatives in Public Education (PIPE) focuses on the role and consequences of privately funded and led efforts to reform public education and its myriad institutions.  The project is an initiative of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford University.
 
On May 20th and 21st, PIPE is hosting an invitation-only research conference that will bring together leading scholars and practitioners who are working on projects related to these emerging trends and cross-sector innovations in public education.  Specifically, the conference will explore the following themes:
  1. The influence of philanthropic and private intermediary organizations in education;
  2. Models of organizing diverse providers (charters and district schools) of public education;
  3. Innovations in the development of human capital for education;
  4. Entrepreneurship in the era of Obama.
The conference will also set out to establish an agenda for future research in these areas.
 

Ongoing and Future Research Projects

 
*Denotes Current Research
 
  1. The role of foundations in shaping the trajectory and priorities of the charter school movement in California.* This project examines how foundations have shaped the charter school movement and the surrounding professionalization projects that legitimate and build the entrepreneurial branch of the charter movement
  2. The allure of “scale” in the charter school field.* This project examines the move toward rapid replication of charter schools by charter management organizations and offers lessons learned over the past ten years about more and less effective scaling processes and some of the unintended consequences of scaling rapidly.
  3. Entrepreneurial leaders in traditional educational institutions.*  This research will examine the cultural and professional tensions experienced by educational leaders trained in other sectors and the tactics they use to bridge various professional and cultural divides. Based on the lead researcher’s prior work on “tempered radicalism,” the project will investigate the activities and professional paths taken by entrepreneurs who have assumed leadership roles within traditional educational institutions, examining whether and how they sustain their entrepreneurial edge, how they implement their approach from the inside, and challenges they face in sustaining their entrepreneurial identities.
  4. Charter school leadership in districts. Leadership of charter schools involves the management of multiple stakeholders, including the charting district or agency.  This project examines the conditions and leadership activities contribute to effective district-charter relationships? What benefits accrue to districts and constituent schools that foster such conditions and what costs are incurred by those who have not established constructive relationships.
  5. Public and private accountabilities. This project will consider how districts negotiate the various accountability metrics imposed by public and private institutions? What new metrics of accountability and legitimacy are imposed by foundations and how do districts respond to conflicting metrics of legitimacy?
 

Hosted Workshops and Seminars

 
In 2009-2010 PIPE will host a number of topical forums to bring together leading scholars, practitioners, and philanthropists working in specific areas related to private initiatives in public education.
 
The issues around the role of educational entrepreneurship in U.S. education are of pressing importance and deserve focused attention from the academic community.  It is our intention not only to use this initiative to attempt to answer some of the important questions that are being generated in the field now, but to help the field strengthen its connection to the upcoming generation of Stanford scholars.  To accomplish this, we propose creating an annual named fellowship.  The fellowship will encourage a new generation of Stanford scholars to take an interest in private initiatives in public education and educational entrepreneurship.  Fellowship recipients would be able to access the support structure and training that the PACS Center provides to its current PACS Graduate Fellows, including strengthening cross-disciplinary work.