Among the greatest concerns in the United States today is an urgent need to reform our public education system. The failure to provide a high-quality education to all of our children not only squanders a national resource–our children's potential–but also widens the gap between those who thrive and those who fail in society. At Stanford we are working to address these challenges.

Through the initiative on Improving K-12 Education (known as the K-12 Initiative), scholars from across the university are joining with education experts to approach the problem from multiple perspectives. And they are partnering with practitioners and policy makers to forge novel and practical solutions.

Improving K-12 Education: A Multidisciplinary Initiative at Stanford is one of five campus-wide interdisciplinary initiatives, sponsored by the Stanford Challenge, the others being human health, the environment and sustainability, the international initiative, and the arts initiative. Please download an overview of The Initiative on Improving K-12 Education.

Building on the solid foundation established by the School of Education, their multidisciplinary efforts focus on three dovetailed strategies to improve teaching and learning:

• Investing in teacher development to invigorate classroom instruction
• Preparing entrepreneurial K-12 leaders who will champion instructional and organizational reform
• Providing rigorous, scientific research to inform and advance effective education policy