James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy

Our mission: to secure America’s future through quality education.

An affiliate of Duke University, The Hunt Institute is a recognized leader in the movement to transform public education. Working at the intersection of education policy and politics, the Institute empowers state leaders to drive sustainable reform and become audacious champions for public education. Marshaling expertise from a nationwide partner network since it was established in 2001, the Institute brings together leaders and resources to help build and nurture visionary leadership and mobilize strategic action to improve public education and student success. The Institute is unapologetic about the importance of equity—in educational access, quality, and opportunity—and it is at the core of the work they do.

Through its bipartisan, research-based approach, the Institute serves as a catalyst for collaboration across the political aisle and policymaking bodies. Its established series of convenings and publications are aimed at building the education policymaking-capacity of all senior-level state leaders. By addressing topics spanning the full education continuum—from birth to K-12, postsecondary education, and the workforce—the Institute works to ensure state policymakers have a keen understanding of the major education issues, an astute political instinct, and a playbook of transformative state- and local-level efforts that are exemplars of what public education can and should look like for every child.