The Save-University Partnership for Education Research (SUPER) Initiative brings together Save the Children staff and university-based researchers to investigate topics of mutual interest. Save the Children benefits from expert inputs to build its evidence base on effective programming while the researcher benefits from access to a field site to further his/her research agenda and career. This collaboration moves both the theory and the practice of international education forward.

University of Pennsylvania President Amy Guttmann; Save the Children Associate Vice President for Education, Chloe O’Gara; and Director of the National Center on Adult Literacy/International Literacy Institute, Dan Wagner, at the announcement of a University of Pennsylvania-Save the Children partnership to explore our joint potential for working towards the Millennium Development Goals.

SUPER Research Fellows have already or are now collaborating with Save the Children staff on such investigations as: early childhood program quality in the Philippines, the safety and security of students in Malawian primary schools, community schools cost effectiveness in Haiti, teacher training impact in Nicaragua, and strategies to ensure girls’ education in Pakistan.

Save the Children’s university partners include: Columbia University Teachers College, George Washington University, Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Maryland, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Wisconsin.

In 2007-08, SUPER will engage university-based researchers and Save the Children staff to focus on four key topic areas:

1. Early childhood interventions that span the ages 0-8 and their impact on children and families;
2. The transition of children from early childhood programs to primary school;
3. The adaptation of community schools models to serve populations for children whose learning is challenged by conflict, HIV/AIDS, multilingualism and gender bias; and
4. Children’s safety and security in school settings.

If your university has expertise in these areas and is interested in getting involved, please contact us.