UMKC launches Urban Education Research Center

UMKC plans to do research and analysis, share information and work collaboratively to find solutions to urban education problems.

To that end, the university is launching a new Urban Education Research Center today. The Center will be part of the School of Education at UMKC.

According to the university, the center will “conduct cutting edge research and analysis, develop data rich approaches, and disseminate this information with the goal of promoting excellent schooling and improving the lives, opportunities and communities of urban residents throughout the United States, with a focus on the Greater Kansas City community.”

Here are more details from a press release.

“The Urban Education Research Center is a place where the hope and promise of urban education is respected and kept alive,” said Leo E. Morton, Chancellor of UMKC. “We’re opening a laboratory of learning, where we’ll continue to search for solutions to improve the educational experiences of our children”

Wanda J. Blanchett, Ph.D., School of Education Dean and Ewing Marion Kauffman/Missouri Endowed Chair for Teacher Education, said the center will seek partnerships across the university and the community to identify solutions to urban education challenges.

“We believe that a wide range of perspectives, and the involvement of diverse constituents, are key to understanding and addressing urban education issues that have national applicability,” Blanchett said. “We are confident that working collaboratively, academics, practitioners, community leaders and organizations, not-for-profit groups and the general public will identify strategies that lead to improved educational outcomes for all children.”