Working with our communities in Evanston and the greater Chicago area is a central part of our mission. The daunting challenges we face with respect to education and human development play out in the families, schools, and neighborhoods that are, in effect, right next door. SESP prides itself in its productive collaborations with local school districts, museums, and community organizations.
To take on the world’s most intractable social problems, we consider everything from the biology of human stress to the design of educational software to the intricate dynamics that shape culture, politics, and the economy. School of Education and Social Policy faculty and students draw upon cutting-edge theory from many different disciplines and the most innovative research methods to solve problems and help humans flourish.
Our Office of Community Education Partnership has helped us forge deep relationships in the community. OCEP bridges the research, practice, and service missions of Northwestern and the School of Education and Social Policy. We create initiatives and partnerships that positively impact our home communities of Evanston and Chicago and that can be shared and scaled far beyond.
CTD provides research, scholarship and programming related to gifted education and talent development. It offers hundreds of enrichment and accelerated courses for students age 4 to grade 12, parent and educator learning communities, and program development for schools.
E4 seeks to improve K-12 education and address educational inequities by helping school districts access timely, rigorous analyses of student outcome data. This research-practice partnership brings together Northwestern researchers, school districts, and the technology company Curriculum Associates to produce usable knowledge for educational practitioners.
The Morton Schapiro Northwestern Academy for Chicago Public Schools is a free, multiyear college access and enrichment program for diverse, academically motivated students. The Northwestern Academy serves high school students from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) who come from households of limited financial means.