The Education Research & Opportunity Center is located within the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) Department in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences (CEHSS) at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. The Education Research & Opportunity Center was established in 2022 after the merger of The Center for Education Leadership, The Postsecondary Education Research Center, and the College Access and Persistence Services Outreach Center. Our work today builds on the long tradition of excellence established by these prior CEHSS efforts with a renewed passion and enhanced capacity for producing high-quality research, delivering high-impact outreach, and improving policy and practice in education.
Research
Our research spans the classroom to career pipeline, from early childhood to adult education. Our affiliates are experienced program evaluators, quantitative and qualitative methodologists and content experts. No matter the project or partner, our center is committed to producing research that is:
1. Relevant
It is imperative that policymakers, school leaders, educators and community advocates have access to high-quality research when they need it. Our research values the examination of critical and pressing issues of education policy and practice and strives to deliver research products of pressing importance to valued stakeholders when they need it most.
2. Rigorous
The Education Research & Opportunity Center values public trust, goodwill, and confidence. Therefore, all Education Research & Opportunity Center research will undergo a comprehensive internal and external review process to ensure research products (1) apply appropriate and sufficiently rigorous research methodologies, (2) responsibly access, manage, and analyze data sources, and (3) are free of errors, oversights, or overt biases.
3. Actionable
While our research may be rooted in abstract theoretical frameworks or grounded in complex, academic concepts, all Education Research & Opportunity research products made available for public consumption will include tangible, concrete, and simple action steps for policymakers, school leaders, and educators in order to maximize our collective impact on policy and practice.
4. Accessible
The Education Research & Opportunity Center hopes to work with and engage a broad audience of stakeholders and partners. Consequently, we value accessibility and will disseminate research products through a variety of channels beyond academic, peer-reviewed journals and refereed conferences. To increase accessibility, we will share findings through social media platforms, blog posts on our website, podcasts, affiliate sites, popular press and opinion, and practitioner-oriented venues. Similarly, we will share results, findings and policy analyses in graphical, text, audio and video formats.
Outreach
As a land-grant university, UT prides itself on adding value to the state by educating students, conducting research and creative work that increases economic, social and professional opportunity for all Tennesseans. In keeping with UT’s mission, The Education Research & Opportunity Center manages five U.S. Department of Education TRiO outreach and student services programs, each designed to increase college access and success for first-generation, low-income students in the East Tennessee and surrounding rural areas. Whether its serving returning adults, veterans, or high school students aiming to be the first in their family to attend college, our outreach is committed to the following values:
1. Service
Increasing access to, and success within, postsecondary education for students from disadvantaged and historically underrepresented groups is our main priority and passion. The Education Research & Opportunity Center exists to serve students and every Education Research & Opportunity Center outreach program will place the best interest, well-being, and edification of students at the center of its existence. Every student, every opportunity.
2. Stewardship
The Education Research & Opportunity Center values the public resources and funds we manage and will regularly train on – and exercise – best practices in project management, annual reporting, fiscal responsibility, and will endeavor to create a safe, positive, and fair environment for our employees and the students we serve.
3. Community
Exemplary student service and outreach begins with a deep understanding and connectedness to the communities we serve. We value engagement with – and support of – these communities and will maintain regular and effective contact with our project partners in order to nurture alliances, build trust and rapport, and provide comprehensive, community-specific supports for students and communities.
Organizational Structure and Governance
As a unit committed to producing relevant, rigorous, actionable, and accessible education research that spans the P20W pipeline, and conducting high-impact outreach to systematically disadvantaged students across Tennessee, The Education Research & Opportunity Center aligns with – and supports – core goals within the CEHHS Strategic Plan.
CEHHS Goal 2: “Engage in and produce high-impact research and scholarship.”
CEHHS Goal 3: “Make a direct and visible impact on our local and global community.”