Partnering in Education Research (PIER) Fellowship

PIER Public Seminar Series

The PIER Public Seminar Series is designed to explore important questions and insights in education research and policy.


 

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PIER fireside chat

PIER Fellowship

The Partnering in Education Research (PIER) Fellowship is designed to train Harvard University doctoral students on how to conduct quantitative education research in partnership with school districts and state education agencies.

PIER Fellows will learn how to:

  • identify questions that are compelling to state and local policymakers as well as to their fellow academics;
  • work with leaders not trained in research methods, but who have a deep appreciation of the implementation challenges created by “academic” research designs;
  • assemble and analyze administrative data—the vast bulk of which was not collected with research in mind; and
  • present to multiple audiences, including the district and state leaders who might act on the results and who control the data for future projects

Contact Us: pier_fellowship@gse.harvard.edu

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PIER fellows interacting

When it Comes to Students, What Are We Measuring?

“At the end of the day, we're all trying to help students and support student learning and student outcomes,” says An, a Ph.D. candidate in HGSE’s Education Policy and Program Evaluation concentration. “So we owe it to them to keep looking and keep digging and keep trying to improve our practice.” Read about how PIER Fellow alumna Lily An's work is reshaping how we evaluate students.

Read the story
Lily An

The PIER Fellowship is not accepting applications at this time.

Apply

Application Requirements
• Research statement (1000-1200 words)
• Curriculum Vitae (2-page maximum)
• Unofficial copy of Harvard academic transcript
• Two faculty letters of recommendation, with a third optional non-faculty/professional letter

Eligibility
Ph.D. students in social science disciplines at HGSE, HKS, and FAS who are U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents are eligible to apply for fellowships that will start in their second or third year of study. Fellows will receive three years of support if starting the PIER program in their G-2 doctoral year, and two years of support if starting in their G-3 doctoral year.
(NOTE FOR SPRING 2025 APPLICANTS: Due to the grant timeline, applicants accepted into the fellowship program in Spring 2025 will only be offered two years of support, regardless of doctoral program year. The program will seek additional funding for a third year of support for rising G-2s, but it is not guaranteed.)

Selection Criteria
Applications will be evaluated on the basis of academic promise, the analytic promise of the applicant’s research interests, and the match between the applicant's interests and the strengths of our program and faculty.

Program

The PIER program provides a two-year fellowship for students entering their second or third year of study (current G-1s and G-2s). If you are selected as a PIER Fellow, you will receive the following training and opportunities:

Proseminar Series
Leaders in the field will share how research projects evolved, the challenges they faced, and how they were resolved along the way. The mechanics of executing research projects will also be discussed, which includes topics such as IRB protocols, data transfer and security, and working with longitudinal administrative data.

Policy Internship
Fellows will develop more insight into the role research can and should play in management, as well as a deep knowledge of the agency’s data and the senior relationships necessary for ongoing research partnerships. This will include a 10-week residency on site at an education agency during the summer after the fellow's first year in the program. 

Coursework in Quantitative Methods and Education Policy
Harvard has constructed flexible requirements to ensure an understanding of both quantitative methods and education policy that can also be counted towards a fellow’s program requirements.
See list of potential courses

Research Apprenticeship
Fellows will receive a stipend to spend 17.5 hours per week conducting research on projects led by a faculty mentor during their G-3 year and G-4 doctoral years,. Fellows will learn data assembly and exploratory data analysis, as well as develop work suitable for publication in peer reviewed journals.

Independent Research
The additional funding will allow fellows to reduce their teaching load and focus on independent research. Fellows will be asked to present their work to both faculty and partner education agencies—providing them with experience communicating with different types of audiences.

Benefits

In addition to the benefit of working alongside Harvard faculty and partners, fellows will receive supplemental stipends for their participation in the program.

  • G-2 doctoral year: Up to $2,500 stipend in addition to the standard Harvard GSAS stipend.
     
  • G-3 & G-4 doctoral years: $28,000 stipend in return for 17.5 hours per week (50% time) spent on their research apprenticeship.
     
  • Summer: Fellows who participate in a non-local internship will receive $8,000 in addition to the standard summer stipend to pay for housing and transportation.
     
  • Professional support: $2,000 per year to support research, travel, and conference participation.

Faculty & Staff

Desmond Ang
PIER Fellowship Faculty Mentor
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School
Desmond Ang

Christopher Avery
Co-Principal Investigator, CEPR Faculty Steering Committee, SDP Fellowship Faculty Advisor, PIER Fellowship Faculty Mentor
Roy E. Larsen Professor of Public Policy and Management
Harvard Kennedy School
Christopher Avery

Peter Blair
PIER Fellowship Faculty Mentor
Assistant Professor of Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Peter Blair

Deirdre Bloome
PIER FELLOWSHIP FACULTY MENTOR
Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, Professor of Sociology, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Deirdre Bloome

Ebony Bridwell-Mitchell
PIER FELLOWSHIP FACULTY MENTOR
Herbert A. Simon Professor in Education, Management, and Organizational Behavior, Harvard Graduate School of Education
ebony bridwell mitchell

Michela Carlana
PIER Fellowship Faculty Mentor
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School
Michela Carlana

David Deming
Affiliated Researcher, SDP Fellowship Faculty Advisor, PIER Fellowship Faculty Mentor
Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Director, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy
david-deming-74240.jpg

Will Dobbie
PIER FELLOWSHIP FACULTY MENTOR
Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research
Will Dobbie

Susan M. Dynarski
SDP Fellowship Faculty Advisor
PIER Fellowship Faculty Mentor
Patricia Albjerg Graham Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
susandynarski_0_1.jpg

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Ph.D. candidate Lily An helps shape how we evaluate students with her research Educators want to help students, and oftentimes that involves measuring them. The numbers stem from important questions: How much are they learning? How is their learning...

Spring 2024: CEPR Newsletter
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PIER Fellow Profiles

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Email pier_fellowship@gse.harvard.edu.

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