How to Apply

Scholar Awards provide financial support toward students’ home tuition during their participation in CPRL. To be eligible for a CPRL Scholar Award, students must make a legally enforceable commitment to work three of the first five years after graduation in a full-time government or non-profit position in or supporting the PK-12 public education sector.

There are two types of Scholar Awards. Students who plan to work in countries other than Brazil may be eligible for awards of up to $20,000.

The second type of Scholar Award is made possible thanks to support from the Lemann Foundation. The Lemann Scholar Awards are available to students who are Brazilian and plan to work in Brazil. These students are eligible for awards up to $30,000. Non-Brazilian students willing to fulfill the qualifying employment requirement in Brazil may be considered for the Lemann scholar award on a case-by-case basis. 

The CPRL Scholar Award Application is optional.

If you are applying to participate in the Fall 2023 semester and wish to apply for a CPRL Scholar Award, please complete BOTH:

The Scholar Award application after you have submitted the online application to the CPRL program.

The Financial Aid Data Form, with the support of your Financial Aid office, which will then submit the form on your behalf.

CPRL Scholar Award applications are due April 3.

Per our agreement with Vanderbilt Peabody, Peabody students do NOT need to complete an Academic Financial Aid Data Form to be considered for a CPRL Scholar Award. 

If you are applying to participate in a semester later than Fall 2023, please note that you will be asked to reapply the semester before your anticipated semester of participation so that we can consider your most up-to-date financial aid package.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at cprl@law.columbia.edu

All applications must be received by 5 PM ET on the day of the deadline.

Other graduate schools that are not listed below have not formalized a partnership with CPRL at this time. If you believe your school should be listed here, or if your graduate school is not currently a CPRL partner and you are interested in working with your school to join the CPRL, please email cprl@law.columbia.edu

* CLS students will apply to CPRL through the Experiential Learning Common Application on LawNet.

** Howard School of Law students will apply to CPRL using this application.

** NYU School of Law students will apply to CPRL through CAMS.  

CPRL is now accepting applications for a LIMITED NUMBER OF PAID SUMMER 2023 INTERNSHIPS AND RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN U.S. PUBLIC EDUCATION REFORM. 

Summer Associates will serve as legal and strategy consultants on projects for client organizations that are working to make substantial structural changes that improve the quality of public education in the US, in particular for under- served populations. Summer Associates will work to define the client’s project and develop background knowledge; design strategies to conduct due diligence and collect qualitative and/or quantitative information; draft findings, recommendations, proposals, and/or reports with the CPRL team and iterate with the client; and present and disseminate final deliverables to client points and leaders. Past interns have worked with the Camden, Cleveland, New York City, Newark, and Washington, DC public school systems, state departments of education, education- focused philanthropies, charter-management organizations, and other education-focused nonprofits across the US and in Brazil. 

Preference will be given to students who are interested in enrolling next fall or spring in CPRL's intensive upper-level seminar and practicum in EDUCATION SECTOR SEMINAR AND PRACTICUM. That course focuses on the governance, legal, managerial, leadership, policy and practical implications of structural changes taking place in US P K- 12 public education today and engages teams of students, guided by experienced engagement managers, in consulting projects for change-minded public education organizations. See more about the course here. 

If you are interested in a summer internship, please complete this form and upload your application materials (detailed below) to the Application Form by Wednesday, February 15th at 5 p.m.

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: 

• Your CV or resume
• An unofficial graduate transcript
• Your written responses to the following prompts:

PROMPT A. In 500 words or less, please explain what attracts you to this course and what skills, experiences, interests, and aspirations you bring to it.

PROMPT B. Consider the following scenario. A medium-sized urban school district has decided to create a new electronic system to track student academic results and provide teachers a snapshot of student performance that includes an analysis of student strengths and challenges.

The district has engaged CPRL to make recommendations for the design (i.e. key features) and implementation (roll-out and use) of the system.

In CPRL’s kick-off call with the client point, the district’s Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation, the team learned a few critical pieces of information: 

• The district’s board and superintendent are invested in this strategy and have allocated significant board meeting discussion time to it. There is also sufficient funding allocated to the project in the district’s budget.
• Alongside CPRL’s work, the district will be conducting an RFP for a technology organization to customize a platform to the district’s needs. The client plans to have this organization use CPRL’s design recommendations.
• The district’s teachers generally have limited access to and training in the use of computer-based platforms.

In 250 words or less, answer the following questions in the narrative, bullet, outline, or another form: 

1. What key steps might your team take over the course of the project to provide the requested recommendations for the design and implementation of the system?
2. The school district has asked your project team to address all important educational, legal, operational, change management, and policy considerations likely to arise in developing the new data system. Name 1-3 challenges the district and/or your team might encounter over the course of the project and suggest steps your team might take to address them.