Reducing inequality in youth outcomes
Solicitation Title: Reducing inequality in youth outcomes
Funding Amount: Open
Sponsor Deadline: Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Solicitation Link: http://wtgrantfoundation.org/focus-areas/reducing-inequality?utm_source=WilliamTGrant%20Website%20Signup&utm_campaign=9524e4139c-August%202%20Research%20Grants%20Deadline&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a590baf297-9524e4139c-1204796553
Overview
<p>One of two focus areas for WT Grand Foundation. Young people from marginalized backgrounds face increasing barriers to achieve their potential in the academic, social, behavioral, and economic realms. The William T. Grant Foundation contends that the research community can play a critical role in reversing this trend. Toward this end, we support research to identify, build, and test responses to inequality in youth outcomes and opportunities. To propose research on reducing inequality, applicants should: Clearly identify the dimension(s) of inequality to be studied (e.g., race, ethnicity, economic standing, and/or immigrant origins). Make a case for the importance of the dimension(s) of inequality.</p> <p>Specify the youth outcome(s) to be studied (e.g., academic, social, behavioral, and/or economic). Show that the outcomes are currently unequal. Strong proposals will establish a clear link between a particular dimension of inequality and specific youth outcomes. Sometimes, qualitative studies do not conceptualize how the findings will inform a response to inequality. Proposals for research on reducing inequality should make a compelling case for why the inequality exists, and why the study’s findings will be crucial to informing a policy, program, or practice to reduce it.</p> <p>We welcome different strategies to reduce inequality. For instance, inequality may be reduced by implementing a program, policy, or practice that helps disadvantaged students more than others, or by applying a universally beneficial approach in a compensatory way so that it especially benefits the youth who need it the most. Responses to inequality may also be informed by studies that offer critical insights on a key dilemma that practitioners or policymakers face in addressing unequal youth outcomes, or challenge assumptions that underlie current approaches. In all cases, the applicant must be specific about the dimension of inequality that is the focus of the study.</p>
Other Information:<p>In the letter of inquiry, applicants should make a strong case that their interests align with the Foundation’s. We support research that we intend will help build, understand, test, and improve programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality for youth ages 5 to 25 in the United States. Program Example: Through one study that we are funding, Laura Hill and her colleagues are analyzing quantitative data to examine the causal impact of reclassification policies on English learner outcomes in Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified School Districts. The team will also conduct interviews to understand how policies and practices designed to reduce unequal outcomes were developed and how they actually work. Hill and colleagues will analyze how district leaders choose test score thresholds for reclassification, and will identify the challenges that central office administrators and school leaders and staff encounter in reclassifying students according to policy. Finally, they will investigate how leaders, counselors, and teachers support recently-arrived English learners, as well as those students who have been classified as such for six or more years, in courses specifically designed for them. The goal is to understand the conditions that promote favorable outcomes for English learners.</p>Last Updated:
RODA ID: 290