Together, with partners, we can forge catalytic and intentional connections across boundaries – practice, scholarship, policy, design, innovation and with the commercial and social sectors. We aim to have a demonstrable impact on the trajectories of millions of young people, and in so doing, advance economic and educational opportunity at broad scale.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie) was chartered by an act of Congress in 1906 and has transformed US education in multiple eras and arenas over its 117-year history.  At the turn of the 20th century, Carnegie helped usher in universal public education by using the Carnegie Unit to standardize the time requirements for the courses and credits needed to attain secondary and post-secondary degrees. 

Carnegie subsequently created the nation’s first pension plan for teachers and college professors (TIAA).  Over the century, the Foundation has established new assessments (GRE); the Educational Testing Service; financial supports for low-income students (Pell Grants); standards for engineering, law, education, and medical schools; and introduced improvement science across the educational sector.  Each of Carnegie’s endeavors reflected the needs and priorities of US education at key junctures of the 20th and 21st centuries.