I’ve written a lot about the role of private foundations in education (see The Best Resources For Learning About The Role Of Private Foundations In Education Policy).

The Shanker Institute just hosted a short conference on that topic, and you can see all their videos from that date here.

In this post, though, I just want to focus on Joanne Barkan’s presentation and, even more specifically,specifically, on her statement that foundations hire researchers who they know will say what they want them to say. I’ve included below a short Twitter thread on that comment. In the video of her talk embedded in this post, it’s clear she is specifically referring to foundations like Walter, Broad, and Gates — not ALL foundations. As I indicate in the thread, I think that’s a fair statement to make.

Let me know what you think….