Education research centers open

The opening of three new education research centers, started with about $25 million worth of federal grants, was formally announced Friday at the Faculty Club. Calling the opening "a remarkable event" and "a tribute to both the people involved and the city itself," Milt Goldberg, director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Development, announced the opening to an assortment of University, Temple University and federal officials. The University will run two of the new centers -- the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Work Force, and the National Center on Adult Literacy, with $17 million in grants from the Department of Education. Temple University will run the third, the Center on Education in the Inner Cities, with a $7.4 million grant. They are among 17 new centers the Department of Education is starting this year, Goldberg said. Seven have already been announced, and 10 more will be announced within the year. The grants came from the departments of Education and Labor. The Center on the Educational Quality of the Work Force will be co-directed by Associate Management Professor Peter Cappelli and Education Professor Robert Zemsky. It will receive $6.5 million over the next five years, with a goal of increasing the understanding of the educational needs of America's work force. Zemsky said he sees the challenge as one "to create a national dialogue, a sense of movement with emphasis on firms as the base in order to get a more competitive work force." The National Center on Adult Literacy, which will be directed by Education Professor Dan Wagner, will receive $10.2 million over the next five years. Wagner said the center's mission is "simple and straightforward: to improve the adult literacy situation in the United States." But he admitted that the task is "incredibly complex." The center will be affiliated with other organizations, including the National Center for Family Literacy and several colleges nationwide.

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