The 2025 Annual Report highlights progress made over the past year to ensure every student has the opportunity to succeed. In collaboration with partners in Rhode Island and across the country, the work remains focused on addressing the root causes and consequences of educational inequality. From advancing research that informs education policy to strengthening connections with schools and communities, the core mission continues to center on connecting the right people with the best evidence to create lasting, effective practice. Readers are invited to explore the report and see the impact achieved through these collective efforts.

2025 Annenberg Institute Annual Report interior pages

The Annenberg Annual Report

Download the Report

Annual Report Archive

Annenberg Institute 2024 Annual Report
Annenberg Institute 2022 Annual Report

The Annenberg Doctoral Affiliates program is designed to bridge the gap between rigorous research and real-world impact. By joining this community, Brown University doctoral students gain access to multidisciplinary resources, funding, and mentorship aimed at tackling the most critical issues in education policy and practice.

The program offers resources designed to support the scholarly and professional trajectory of students:

  • Interdisciplinary Integration: Affiliates are integrated into a robust network of scholars and practitioners. This community facilitates engagement with faculty and peers across various disciplines, all of whom are focused on critical educational inquiries.
  • Institutional Recognition: Affiliates receive public recognition via the Annenberg website and other formal institutional communications, highlighting their role within the research community.
  • Scholarly Engagement: Members receive formal invitations to participate in Annenberg-sponsored seminars, conferences, and other relevant academic programming.
  • Research Funding Opportunities: Affiliation is a prerequisite for eligibility to apply for internal Annenberg doctoral research grants and competitive funding streams.
  • Professional Development: Affiliates gain access to curated professional supports and development programming aimed at preparing candidates for advanced careers in academia, policy, and research.

Membership is open to all Brown University doctoral students who are actively engaged in research pertaining to education. Candidates from any department or discipline are welcome to apply, provided their scholarly work demonstrates a clear connection to education policy or pedagogical practice. Affiliates are featured on the Annenberg Institute website, included in communications efforts (including events and programming), and gain visibility for their work related to education research and practice. Interest forms are reviewed on a rolling basis. 

Apply today

Brown doctoral students involved in research or teaching related to education are encouraged to apply for affiliation.

Request Affiliation

Lindsey

About the Program

Postdoctoral scholars at Annenberg contribute to a growing body of relevant and rigorous research that builds new knowledge of promising educational practices and of the conditions that enable students to thrive.

Annenberg’s Postdoctoral Research Associate cohort - made up of researchers from diverse disciplinary and methodological backgrounds - places our “postdocs” into direct relationships with different levels of the fragmented educational system to improve the quality of schools and the experiences of students, while producing nationally impactful research.

Postdoctoral Research Associate positions are a critical component of the Institute and our work. Postdocs typically serve 2-year appointments under the mentorship of individual Annenberg faculty.

Postdocs spend 75% of their full-time schedule on Annenberg-based work (e.g. faculty-led/core project(s)), with a focus on opportunities that lead to co-authorship and contribute to career development through publications, 20% on their individual research, and 5% on Institute service. Annenberg provides administrative, grant, and operational support. Postdocs also receive additional annual research funds to support their ongoing work.

Postdocs directly support the Undergraduate Research Fellows for Social Science and Public Policy program, and participate in our Half-Baked Seminar Series. They also participate in writing retreats and workshops to develop professional skills. The University also houses The Office of University Postdoctoral Affairs (OUPA), which supports Brown postdocs in their training and professional growth, as they prepare for independent careers in academia, industry, and beyond. Annenberg postdocs are represented by the Brown Postdoc Labor Organization and the Collective Bargaining Agreement that was ratified on October 8, 2025.

Jing Liu headshot

As one of the first postdocs hired at Annenberg back in 2018, I was fortunate enough to participate in the design and launch of many of its signature programs, including EdWorkingPapers and the Undergraduate Fellows for Education and Social Policy Program. I also met some of my best collaborators and friends during my time at Brown. I have no doubt Annenberg will continue to lead our field and I look forward to continued collaboration!

Dr. Jing Liu, Director of the Center for Educational Data Science and Innovation and Associate Professor in Education Policy, University of Maryland, College Park

Hannah Kistler

I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute at Brown. My time at Annenberg gave me the chance to work with outstanding mentors, staff, and colleagues while taking on meaningful research projects and leadership opportunities. These experiences prepared me well for my current role as a faculty member.

One of the things that I appreciate most is that my connection to Annenberg has continued beyond my postdoc appointment. I still collaborate closely with my Annenberg colleagues, and I continue to benefit from the professional relationships and community I built there. I’m grateful to remain connected to such a supportive and engaged community.

Dr. Hannah Kistler, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Policy & Leadership, School of Education, University of Albany

Spearheaded by Annenberg affiliate Matthew Kraft, the Annenberg Institute’s newest focus area of Climate and Education is centered around the Sustainable Education Research Initiative. SustainableED seeks to advance research at the intersection of education policy and climate change, with a focus on building knowledge that informs policy and practice and supports more resilient and sustainable education systems. This focus area reflects the growing need to understand how climate and environmental pressures are impacting students and how schools can address these challenges.

Upcoming Events

ALL EVENTS

Spearheaded by Lindsay C. Page, projects in the Postsecondary Policy and Practice focus area centers on generating knowledge that supports learners across the full postsecondary journey. This work explores key areas such as college transitions, financial aid, and approaches to providing consistent, meaningful support to students over time. This research contributes to a stronger understanding of what drives student success and helps advance more equitable outcomes in postsecondary education and training.

Postsecondary Projects & News

Spearheaded by John Papay and Nate Schwartz, Projects in the Educators focus area improve educational outcomes and reduce persistent educational inequalities in PK-12 public schools by generating rigorous and relevant policy research in four main areas:

  • How states and districts develop robust human capital pipelines
  • How educators learn and develop throughout the career
  • How organizational context of schools affects educators
  • How educators influence a range of student outcomes

Our primary focus is on immediate and relevant educator policy issues in an effort to build a systems-level understanding of key levers to improve outcomes. We explore questions in the field through an integrative approach that  down disciplinary, methodological and topical barriers. Bringing together economists, sociologists, education scholars and others, we examine phenomena of interest from a range of methodological perspectives. This allows us to explore the interconnections between topics that are typically studied separately.

Human Capital Pipelines

How states and districts develop robust human capital pipelines

Educator Learning and Development

How educators learn and develop throughout the career

Organizational Context

How organizational context of schools affects educators

Multiple Student Outcomes

How educators influence a range of student outcomes

Spearheaded by faculty member John B. Diamond, projects in the Race and Education focus area provide an inclusive space to:

  1. Rethink how we interrogate race and education.
  2. Generate theoretically informed, rigorous scholarship on the impact of race on students’ educational experiences, opportunities, and outcomes.
  3. Engage with and learn from a broad community invested in racial justice.
  4. Create a bold vision for racially just education rooted in engaged scholarship and innovative policy and practice-based efforts to challenge racial inequity.

Upcoming Events

More Race & Ed Events

Annenberg’s current focus areas reflect key domains where we are engaged in sustained and collaborative research. These areas span our four pillars and represent multi-year commitments to topics that reflect strong faculty interest, deep expertise, and relevance to the field. Our current focus areas—Race and Education, Educators, Postsecondary Education, and Climate and Education—highlight where we are investing to advance knowledge and practice. 

 

We revisit these focus areas regularly to ensure they remain responsive to emerging questions from the field and evolving faculty interests. Within each area, we support specific projects and launch emerging lines of work that illustrate the breadth and impact of this research.

Current Focus Areas

English teacher Jessica Gallo assists students during a writing exercise in her classroom at Dekaney High School in Houston, on Sept. 16, 2025. Newcomer immigrant students in high school with low English-proficiency face multiple barriers schools can address.
school buses in snow
A Brown staff member speaks to incoming postsecondary students
A Race and Ed event at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University
◆
Article

As schools return to in-person learning, demand for online tutoring remains high

<span class=As schools return to in-person learning, demand for online tutoring remains high " class="news_header_image_default" />
Caption

Online tutoring companies have been boosted by a pandemic in which parents — and now also schools — are looking for ways to help children fill in the gaps left by an education system that is still grappling with its own remote-learning shortcomings. But it’s also a dynamic that could bring a far more business-savvy and profit conscious model to what was once a localized and often personal part of the education world. It’s a shift that has some education experts questioning just how effective online tutoring can be. “The type of tutoring with evidence is intensive tutoring with a consistent tutor who comes with an understanding of the students needs — based on data from direct assessments or from the school or teacher — and with curricular materials for addressing these needs,” Susanna Loeb, the director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, said in an email. “This type of tutoring is relationship-based in which the student and tutor come to know each other well and the tutoring builds student engagement and broader well-being as well as content-specific skills and knowledge.” Many remote tutoring companies have started in the past 10 years and most follow a similar platform of connecting families with tutors who can help children with everything from math to reading and more.  

Read the Full Article

Share

◆
External News

Tennessee Goes All in on Tutoring with $200M Statewide Program for 150,000 Kids Who Are Just Below Grade Level in English, Math

<span class=Tennessee Goes All in on Tutoring with $200M Statewide Program for 150,000 Kids Who Are Just Below Grade Level in English, Math " class="news_header_image_default" />
Image: Tennessee Department of Education via The 74
The 74

Share

Subscribe to