We forge community-engaged partnerships

The School of Education is home to more than a dozen centers, institutes, external partnerships, and research initiatives.

Explore how we are shaping education and health — both in Pittsburgh and all over the world.

Our Centers & Institutes

Visit CUE
A male black student wearing a 412 pittsburgh shirt reading and studying

Center for Urban Education

Pursuing education transformation toward freedom and community-building

Visit OCD
A young girl sitting in a classroom reading a paper

Office of Child Development

Giving children and families the resources needed to thrive

Visit IISE
An international student speaking in classs

International Studies in Education

Advancing scholarship in comparative, international, and development education

Our Projects & Initiatives

Visit CEAC
Person typing on a computer to input data

Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity

Services for organizations involved with children and youth

Visit CLL
Two kids playing sports outside in a Pitt youth program

Community Leisure Learn

Offering youth and adult programs in health and physical activity

Freedom Seminars
Students listening to lecture

Freedom Seminars

Supporting students in understanding and engaging education within global social, cultural, and political frameworks of freedom

Visit the Forum
Room full of members of the Forum interacting

Forum for Western Pennsylvania School Superintendents

Membership organization for superintendents across southwestern PA

Ignite Fitness
Ignite Fitness logo

Ignite Fitness

Gym membership and fitness classes on Pitt's upper campus

Imagination PLAYce
Three students working on a circuitry project at a table

Imagination PLAYce

Classroom and community space to explore learning through play

Visit JSI
Justice Scholar student laughing while hanging out with his teachers

Justice Scholars Institute

College prep and enrichment for high school students from Pittsburgh Public Schools

Visit Kinloch Commons
A girl smiling in a room with other people pursuing freedom-based work

Kinloch Commons for Critical Pedagogy and Leadership

Connector and a hub for people pursuing freedom study and praxis

Maximizing All Potentials
Two students together in a classroom looking over an assignment

Maximizing All Potentials

Promotes mental health and avoidance of drugs and alcohol among youth

Practices of Freedom Project
The Flying African by Mikael Owunna

Practices of Freedom

Creating a new teacher education training model that centers Black knowledge traditions

Visit the Rural Education Project
A student wearing a cap looking down at a map

Rural and Community-Based Education

Building networks and partnerships, expanding knowledge, and advancing practice that center rural communities

Visit Tri-State
A student teacher with a student, both smiling and holding up their hands

Tri-State Area School Study Council

Membership group for over 100 school districts across Western Pennsylvania

Visit WPWP
A teacher holding a book that says Western PA Writing Project on it

Western Pennsylvania Writing Project

Focused on improving literacy among students and teachers

Affiliated Professional Organizations

CPED logo

The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) is a consortium of over 100 schools of education across the United States and Canada committed to improving the doctorate in education (EdD) degree.

Professor Jill Perry is Executive Director of CPED.

CIES logo

The Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) is an academic association with more than 3,000 members from over 105 countries around the world.

Professor M. Najeeb Shafiq is the Executive Director of CIES.

CSCC logo

The Council for the Study of Community Colleges is a national organization of university-based researchers and community college practitioners who further scholarship for community colleges.

Interim Dean Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher is Executive Director of CSCC.

Explore More Engagements

Our Partnerships & Networks

The Community Engagement Centers at the University of Pittsburgh create welcoming spaces in Pittsburgh neighborhoods where the community can access the university’s resources. Centers exist in the neighborhoods of Homewood and the Hill District. We seek to be a strong community partner by being an asset to the community, doing work that is mutually beneficial, and making the commitment to build strong partnerships over time.

The Institute for Learning helps educators bring what research tells us about teaching and learning into classrooms to help students grow their intelligence and reach the high standards demanded by today’s colleges and workforce.

The multidisciplinary Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) allows scientists to study learning in its cognitive, neural, social, and organizational aspects.

Remake Learning Pittsburgh is a network of people and organizations aiming to spark learning practices for young people that are engaging, relevant, and equitable in our era of rapid social and technological change. The organization includes academics, artists, educators, technologists, and parents who are working together to think differently about 21st century teaching and learning.

The MuseumLab is a place for older kids (ages 10+) to work with makers to create everything from woodworking, to art, to software. The MuseumLab is located at the former Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny in the Northside, which is located next to the Children’s Museum in the Northside neighborhood. We are an active partner in the project, as students in our graduate program and faculty researchers are exploring the impact of learning through the informal, out-of-school environment of the maker lab space.

The University Center for International Studies (UCIS) is a University-wide matrix organization that encompasses centers for area studies and centers on topical specializations in international studies. It coordinates international education curricula and provides support services such as the Study Abroad Office.

School Research Projects

Environmental Justice Pathway: Empowering Students Through Relevant and Agentic Data Science Lessons is a project that seeks to provide teachers nationwide with actionable lessons for the K-8 classroom.

Funded by the Grable Foundation, it is part of a research-practice partnership involving the Pitt School of Education and others.

The goal of Grappling with AI, Education, and Our Speculative Futures is to engage educators and students within the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, in critical discourse about the purpose of education, and technology’s role within it.

Justice-Focused Computational Thinking Pathways for Middle School English Language Arts is a project that seeks to infuse computer science principles into middle school English Language Arts classrooms.

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