Spencer Foundation
The Spencer Foundation was established by Lyle M. Spencer, the founder, and until his death in 1968, president of
Science Research Associates, Inc., an educational publishing firm. The foundation is intended, by Mr. Spencer's
direction, to investigate ways in which education, broadly conceived, can be improved around the world. The
foundation received its major endowment in 1968. Since that time it has made grants totaling approximately $180 million.
The Foundation has as its primary mission, by the intent of its founder, "to investigate ways in which education
can be improved, around the world." To achieve this goal, the Foundation is committed to supporting high quality
investigation of education through its research programs and to strengthening and renewing the educational
research community through fellowship programs and related activities. The Foundation defines education
broadly to include all the situations and institutions in which education proceeds, across the entire life span.
An important expectation of the Foundation is that the activities it supports, taken together over the years, will
contribute significantly to the enhancement of educational opportunity for all people.
The research programs, comprised of Major Research Grants and Small Research Grants, support work that shows
promise of contributing new knowledge, understanding, and improvement of educational thought and practice. The
fellowship programs support educational researchers at different stages of their professional careers, providing
resources to both young and senior researchers to pursue concentrated intellectual activity. Practitioner
Research Communication and Mentoring Grants seek to strengthen the effectiveness of teacher researchers and to
clarify the uses of teacher research.
As a matter of policy, the Foundation is unable to support requests for capital funds, operating or ongoing
program expenses, direct support for teacher or staff pre-service or in-service training, funds for program
evaluation, and funds for developing tests, curricula, or programs.
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