Capstone Institute/ Howard University

Capstone Institute is a multi-disciplinary center that implements and supports school reform and school improvement initiatives that focus on "educating the whole child," and interlinks research, theory and practice in the areas of learning, curriculum and instruction, professional development, social work, policy, parent and community engagement, organizational change, assessment and evaluation, and psychosocial/emotional development. Our academic interventions, community support services, and research activities are conducted by an interdisciplinary team with a demonstrated track record of evidenced-based accomplishments in urban and ethnically diverse schools, districts and communities.

Capstone Institute is an extension of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR), which operated as a federally funded educational research and development center at Howard University in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University. During its 10 year funding cycle, CRESPAR had the distinction of being the largest federally funded educational research and development center in the history of American education. Along with this sponsorship came the mandate to us from the federal government to be, and to remain in the vanguard in this country in formulating, implementing, evaluating, and ultimately disseminating comprehensive models of school reform and/or school improvement strategies that are driven by systematic, rigorous research.

Capstone Institute continues the mandate of CRESPAR at Howard University by serving as a partner with an expanding portfolio of urban schools and districts to meet the comprehensive psychosocial and academic needs of children and their families through evidence-based programs and practices. Our Talent Quest Model™ of comprehensive school reform and its various components capture this process, which is founded on the continuation of CRESPAR ?s principles of Talent Development.