Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center, whose primary activities of research and writing have resulted in published reports on every level of education. Nine presidents have guided the Foundation through its history, each bringing unique shape to its work.

Influential Foundation achievements include development of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), publication of the Flexner Report on medical education, creation of the Carnegie Unit, founding of the Educational Testing Service, and establishment of the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The Carnegie Foundation was a leader in the effort to provide federal aid for higher education, including Pell Grants, which assist low- and middle-income students.

History

Presidential highlights

Henry Pritchett secured the Congressional charter in 1906 and broadened the Foundation's mission to include work in education policy and standards. John W. Gardner became president in 1955 concurrent with his presidency of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. His focus was on balancing quality and equity. Alan Pifer, again president of both the Foundation and the Corporation, established a task force in 1967 under the leadership of Clark Kerr. Under Kerr's direction, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education produced more than 160 policy reports, research studies and technical reports that helped define key federal policies and programs in higher education and student financial aid.

The rebirth of an independent Carnegie Foundation

With Ernest L. Boyer's appointment as president in 1979, the Foundation separated from the Carnegie Corporation, which had supported it during a period of financial problems. It became an independent institution and eventually moved to Princeton, N.J. During Boyer's tenure, the Foundation maintained its interest in higher education and broadened its work to recognize the interconnection of all stages in the educational experience.

Landmark policy reports, including High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America and College: The Undergraduate Experience in America, involved the Foundation in the national debate and activities around school reform and strengthening colleges and universities. Boyer's influential report, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, laid the groundwork for a broader definition of scholarship, which has become common parlance at universities around the United States and the world.

The move west

In the summer of 1997, with Lee S. Shulman at the helm, the Foundation relocated from Princeton, New Jersey to its current home in California. Situated in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Foundation draws upon the rich resources of the region, including universities, philanthropic and civic institutions, and nonprofit research organizations.

Anthony S. Bryk became the ninth president of the Foundation in September 2008.

References

• CFAT website - history
• CFAT archive at Columbia University
• Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Private power for the public good : a history of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. With a new foreword by Lee S. Shulman, New York : College Entrance Examination Board, 1999 (Originally published: 1st ed. Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, 1983)

External links

• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching – Official site.
• Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning – Official site.
• Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning at Heldref Publications.