W.T. Grant Foundation Awards $4.5 Million in Research Grants

The William T. Grant Foundation in New York City has announced ten grants totaling more than $4.5 million in support of research on inequality in youth outcomes and improving the use of research evidence in decisions that affect young people. The grants were awarded in the foundation's focus areas of Reducing Inequality and Improving the Use of Research Evidence. Grants awarded through the former include $150,403 to Jessika Bottiani and Catherine Bradshaw at the University of Virginia for a study that looks at whether a state-level policy initiative in Maryland that targets school discipline disparities on the basis of race actually reduces inequality in student outcomes; $600,000 to Robert Smith of Baruch College for an investigation of the language demands in standards, assessments, and curricular materials for English learners; and $580,485 to Mikyung Wolf of the Educational Testing Service and Alison Bailey of the University of California, Los Angeles for a study on whether school-based health services reduce academic and behavioral inequalities among youth. Grants awarded in the area of Improving the Use of Research Evidence include $553,028 to Daniel Crowley and Taylor Scott of Pennsylvania State University; Kathryn Oliver of the University of Oxford and Lauren Supplee of Child Trends for a study that looks at whether structured collaboration between researchers and policy makers improves federal legislators' use of research pertaining to children and families; and $600,000 to Meredith Honig and Lydia Rainey of the University of Washington for a study on the impact and optimization of the research-to-policy collaboration model.