Center for Public Research
And Leadership

Columbia Law School, Columbia Business School, and Teachers College have launched the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) to mobilize university resources in support of public K-12 education reforms.

Read Professor Liebman's recent Op-Ed in Education Week

By providing a framework for institutional change and a pipeline of well-prepared professional graduates, CPRL helps state and local public school systems improve their performance on numerous levels.

The center offers affordable project support and produces actionable research. It uses an innovative approach to interdisciplinary professional education that jointly prepares law, business, and education students for work as public institution builders. Recent projects have focused on teacher evaluation, principal preparation, community engagement, and national data strategies.

CPRL is directed by James S. Liebman, the Law School’s Simon H. Rifkin Professor of Law. Liebman conceived the idea of an action-oriented center to tackle pressing problems in public education reform when he served as chief accountability officer at the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein.