The EPE Research Center is a division of Editorial Projects in Education, the non-profit organization that publishes Education Week. With a staff of full-time researchers, the Research Center conducts annual policy surveys, as well as independent, unbiased research projects for outside organizations on a grant or contract basis.

Christopher B. Swanson, Vice President, Research & Development
Amy M. Hightower, Director

With the 1997 launch of the annual report that takes stock of state policymaking in education, Quality Counts, EPE augmented its capacity by creating an in-house research team. Among the EPE Research Center’s major projects is Quality Counts, an annual special issue of Education Week supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Pew Center on the States. In 2006, the EPE Research Center and Education Week launched a new four-year project to examine graduation rates and related issues facing the nation’s high schools. The project’s major releases include the annual Diplomas Count report and EdWeek Maps, a powerful GIS-based online data tool that allows users to map out information on graduation rates and generate customized reports for any school district in the nation.

The Center conducts a range of grant- and contract-based projects and its supporters include the Pew Center on the States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. In collaboration with Learning Point Associates and a team of other partners, the EPE Research Center has a contract with the U.S. Department of Education to establish the National Charter School Resource Center, which will provide services and support for the continued development of high-quality, effective charter schools.

The EPE Research Center also contributes data and analysis to special coverage in Education Week, and Technology Counts, hosts live web chats on research topics, and maintains the Education Counts online database. In addition to the Counts reports, the Center’s recent publications include Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap and Perspectives on a Population: English-Language Learners in American Schools, both authored by Christopher B. Swanson.