GSE Students Collaborative Learning Fund

The Collaborative Learning Fund supports student-led initiatives that promote scholarly camaraderie and exchange at the Graduate School of Education.

In 2015, Dean Dan Schwartz launched the Collaborative Learning Fund to leverage the creativity, agency, and insight of GSE students to catalyze their own learning opportunities with others. Students receive financial support to design and execute activities that impact the GSE broadly. Projects selected enhance the existing strengths of the GSE by offering programs and events that supplement our current academic and co-curricular offerings. They are open to all. As a result, the projects reflect new order thinking, innovation, and pragmatism that ultimately make the GSE a better place to learn and thrive.

2025-2026 Award Winners

AI & Learning Analytics Study Collective

The AI & Learning Analytics Study Collective is a student-led initiative bringing together GSE graduate students to unpack the evolving world of AI in education. We explore two themes: how AI systems can measure and support learning, and how instructors can use AI responsibly to design assessments and provide feedback. Through discussion-based sessions facilitated by and for GSE community members, participants collaboratively examine how AI can responsibly foster learning and critically analyze AI-enabled tools.

Public Scholarship Collaborative (PSC)

The Public Scholarship Collaborative (PSC) is a student-led community at Stanford University dedicated to mobilizing research for opportunity and equity in education. PSC supports students in working with scholars and practitioners to translate research into accessible public-facing scholarship that bridges research and practice. Grounded in collaboration, hope, and shared possibility, PSC centers community knowledge, expands the reach of scholarly work, and fosters dialogue and action toward more just educational futures.

STEER Reading Group - Stanford Teaching, Equity, and Education Reflection Reading Group

STEER will read and critically reflect upon books that trace the history, examine the practice, and offer critical analyses of teaching and teacher education in the United States. They will begin with: Blaming Teachers: Professionalization Policies and the Failure of Reform in American History by Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz. Across meetings throughout the 2025–26 academic year, participants will engage with one chapter at a time, using each as a springboard to discuss how narratives of teacher blame have shaped and continue to shape: educational policy, teacher identity, and classroom practice.

STEP Pre-Service Mathematics Cohort: Fostering Mathematical Curiosity

We are a group of eight pre-service mathematics educators in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) who are student teaching in communities and schools across the Bay Area. Attending the California Math Council (CMC) North 68th Annual Mathematics Conference allowed us to engage in critical dialogue with expert mathematics educators and develop our own equitable educational practices as we begin our teaching careers. Most importantly, this conference provided us with the unique opportunity as pre-service educators to build a network of like-minded experienced professionals who can provide insight, perspective, and wisdom in creating equitable classroom spaces.

The Literacy Collective

The Literacy Collective’s mission is to provide a forum for GSE graduate students currently conducting literacy-related research to engage with each other, faculty members, and the extant community on issues related to literacy. This forum will establish a network of seasoned and emerging scholars drawn together by shared interests to present and receive feedback on current literacy-related research projects during retreats aimed at addressing current and future research. Additionally, we meet to explore the scholarship of literacy experts both in and beyond Stanford during scholar talks and book clubs aimed to foster knowledge of current areas and opportunities for literacy research.

The Practice Podium

The Practice Podium is a graduate student–led initiative designed to provide a supportive and constructive space for PhD students and other Trainees to rehearse high-stakes academic presentations such as job talks, conference presentations, and dissertation defenses. Each session will feature a volunteer student presenter who delivers their talk to a group of peers, followed by a structured feedback discussion. This program emphasizes peer-to-peer learning, practical skill development, and the refinement of public speaking and academic communication. The program will also provide a space where students from across all disciplines within the GSE can learn about each other's research.