UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The College of Education and Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute have partnered to establish the Center for Educational Disparities Research (CEDR) to address educational inequities among minority and low-income children.
An extension of the Educational Risk Initiative (ERI), CEDR will provide support for education-focused research, and build the educational field’s knowledge base by identifying risk factors for educational disparities and by evaluating programs or policies that can help decrease these risks.
“Researchers will benefit from the expertise of a community of colleagues whose skills can assist them in advancing their planned investigations as well as submitting proposals to external funding organizations,” said Paul Morgan, CEDR director and professor of education. “Faculty will also help establish multi-disciplinary teams of researchers and support their activities and project development.”
The new center will provide additional support for researchers addressing educational inequities by increasing their external funding opportunities. The center will support researchers of varied backgrounds, including sociology, developmental psychology, demography, educational and school psychology, and educational policy.
Penn State faculty affiliated with the CEDR include Chrissy Hall, Deborah Schussler, Jenny Frank, Peter Nelson, Julia Bryant, Ashley Patterson, Amy Crosson, Karly Ford, Katerina Bodovski and Soo-yong Byun (Education); David Ramey and Jeremy Staff (Criminology); Kevin Thomas and Michelle Frisco (Sociology); and Scott Gest (Human Development).
A full version of this article originally appeared on Penn State News on July 19.