Five Achievable Breakthroughs in the Next Ten Years
A K-12 Education Event for Donors
Hosted by The Philanthropy Roundtable, Conference of Southwest Foundations,
and Greater Houston Community Foundation
April 20-21, 2010 * Houston, Texas
At this two-day event with America’s leading education reformers and practitioners, national philanthropists examined where breakthroughs can be made in K-12 education—and how philanthropists can help achieve them.
Meeting Presentations:
Opening Plenary: Five Achievable Breakthroughs Audience Poll Results
Closing Plenary: Charter - District Competition Aucience Poll Results
Site Visit Agenda
Inside the KIPP-YES Expansion: Progress and Setbacks on the Road to Urban School Reform
Tuesday, April 20 * 8:00 am - 3:00 pm
8:00 - Depart Houstonian
8:45 - Arrive at KIPP Polaris OR KIPP SHINE Prep
KIPP SHINE Prep serves over 700 three-year-old through fourth-grade students, of whom 73% are Hispanic, 24% are African-American, and 93% are eligible for the federal free and reduced price meals program. At SHINE, students acquire strong foundations in English and Spanish, and explore new concepts through creative play, storytelling, and art. On average, SHINEsters entering first grade are already reading at the second-grade level.
KIPP Polaris Academy for Boys serves over 250 young men in grades five through seven, of whom 90% are African-American, 5% are Hispanic, and 88% are eligible for the federal free and reduced price meals program. Polaris is KIPP’s first single-gender school. At Polaris, curriculum centers on best practices for educating young males from low-income, single-parent, minority backgrounds. Infused throughout daily instruction are concepts of high ideals, discipline, social justice, conflict mediation, positive psychology, and self-identity.
9:00 - Tour school, observe classes, panel discussion
11:00 - Depart, travel to YES
11:30 - Arrive at YES Prep North Central Campus
YES Prep Public Schools is an open-enrollment public charter school serving 3,500 students at seven schools in Greater Houston. Most students enter YES Prep at least one to two grade levels behind in math and reading. 95% of YES Prep students are Hispanic or African American, 80% are economically disadvantaged, and 90% are first-generation college-bound. 100% of YES Prep graduates have been accepted to a four-year college. The YES Prep model incorporates an integrated 6th-12th grade curriculum, extended school day and year, mandatory community service, and individualized college counseling for all students. YES Prep North Central is an official International Baccalaureate School, a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School, and has earned an Exemplary rating from the Texas Education Agency in every eligible year.
11:45 - Tour school, observe classes
12:30 - Lunch
1:00 - Panel DiscussionA Progress Report on Scaling High-Performing Charters in Houston
Tired of turning away students on endless waiting lists, Houston's KIPP and YES Prep public charter networks became a staging ground for an unprecedented expansion experiment. By 2017, KIPP and YES plan to build, staff, and launch a total of 55 new schools—42 KIPP schools, 13 YES schools—to serve the equivalent of 15 percent of all public school students in the Houston Independent School District. How are they doing thus far? What impediments to growth do they face? Have these high-performing networks been able to maintain their results at scale?
Chris Barbic, founder, YES College Preparatory Schools
Terry Bruner, executive director, Teach For America Houston
Mike Feinberg, co-founder, Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP)
George Grainger, senior program officer, Houston Endowment (moderator)
2:15 - Depart for Houstonian
Opening Dinner
Houston and Beyond: Achievable Breakthroughs in Teacher & Principal Excellence
Hosted by Laura and John Arnold at The Houstonian
Tuesday, April 20 * 6:00 - 8:45 pm
In a striking break from the status quo, Houston is linking real results in the classroom with decisions on teacher hiring, firing, compensation, and professional training. The District of Columbia recently implemented a true overhaul of its human capital strategy with the goal of reforming failing schools. Where else should we look for dramatic breakthroughs in ensuring that America’s students have excellent teachers and leaders? At this event, national experts, along with HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, offered inside perspectives on exciting initiatives to improve teacher effectiveness in all of our public schools. Speakers and attendees discussed what we can do to accelerate and sustain these efforts nationwide.
Tim Daly, president, The New Teacher Project
Terry Grier, superintendent, Houston Independent School District
Kati Haycock, president, Education Trust
Alex Johnston, executive director, ConnCAN
Andrew Rotherham, author, Achieving Teacher and Principal Excellence: A Guide for Donors (moderator)
Conference
Five Achievable Breakthroughs in the Next Ten Years
Wednesday, April 21 * 8:00 am - 2:15 pm
Opening Plenary: 9:00 am – 10:15 am
What Are Five Achievable Breakthroughs in the Next Ten Years?
There’s reform, and there’s progress—and then there’s breakthrough: the kind of change that shifts the line of vision, allowing reformers to see an array of new opportunities. The Philanthropy Roundtable is committed to helping K–12 donors achieve these sorts of transformative achievements. Past breakthroughs—the human capital revolution led by Teach For America, the scaling of no-excuses charter school networks, and a cohort of reformist urban school superintendents—point the way to five achievable breakthroughs in the next decade in choice, teachers, school leaders, advocacy, and technology. At the same time, many philanthropic investments have not yielded results. How do we identify an opportunity for breakthrough? Some of America’s leading education reform thinkers and practitioners examined where breakthroughs can be made—and how philanthropists can help achieve them.
Rick Hess, resident scholar and director of education policy studies, American Enterprise Institute
Lori Fey, portfolio director, policy initiatives, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (moderator)
Breakout Sessions: 10:45 am – 12:00 pm
Breakthrough Next: Does Technology Have the Potential to Transform K-12 Education?
Keeping education unchanged might make sense if our schools were excellent, consistently turning out well educated young citizens ready to compete in a global marketplace. But they aren’t. K–12 reform is urgent, and increasing numbers of donors are convinced that technology has the potential for “disruptive innovation” in the troubled national K–12 system. Personalized learning innovations such as virtual schools, hybrid charter schools, adaptive content and assessment tools, and game-based learning are challenging fundamental assumptions about the way students learn—and the systems that we’ve created to deliver education. Are we on the verge of a technology breakthrough in K–12 education?
Larry Berger, co-founder and CEO, Wireless Generation
Cosmee Castillo, student, Texas Virtual Academy
Ernie Cockrell, president, Cockrell Foundation
John Danner, CEO, Rocketship Education
Bryan Hassel, director, Public Impact
Susan Patrick, president and CEO, North American Council for Online Learning
John Lock, founder, Pollinate Ventures (moderator)
Making Effective Advocacy Investments: Parents, the Public or Politicians?
K–12 education advocacy can happen from the top down, by working with policymakers to create an environment favorable to reform, or from the bottom up, by mobilizing parents to demand better choices for their children. Both strategies are fraught with risk, and both are crucial elements of achieving K–12 education breakthroughs. What works better: a top-down or bottom-up approach—or both?
Ben Austin, founder, Parent Revolution
John Kirtley, founder and chairman, Step Up for Students
Joe Williams, executive director, Democrats for Education Reform
Jim Blew, director of K-12 education reform, Walton Family Foundation (moderator)
Luncheon: 12:15 pm – 2:15 pm
Achievable Breakthroughs in Houston: “We’re not afraid of your competition”
“And to our friends from charter schools, thank you,” said Houston Independent School District (HISD) Superintendent Terry Grier, looking charter school leaders straight in the eye. “We’re not afraid of your competition. Please rest assured, we will not sit idly by and watch our parents leave failing schools to go to charters in their neighborhood that are getting the kinds of results that our children deserve and that we are not producing. . . . And I promise you we’re going to get busy.” In his February 2010 “state of the schools” speech, Grier threw down the gauntlet to KIPP, YES Prep, and other high-performing charter school networks that have risen up to challenge HISD’s monopoly on Houston’s 200,000 public school kids. (For the record, the charter schools are ready for a friendly fight.) Grier’s challenge marks a new direction in urban school reform. Education reformers have long hoped that charter schools would grow to the point of competing with large, struggling urban districts. While it remains to be seen whether HISD can successfully take up Grier’s challenge, this breakthrough raises many new questions. What are the implications for philanthropists of a district that says it’s prepared to outcompete and outhustle charter schools? What are the greatest philanthropic opportunities over the next five years?
Chris Barbic, founder, YES College Preparatory Schools
Larry Faulkner, president, Houston Endowment
Terry Grier, superintendent, Houston Independent School District
Leo Linbeck III, president and CEO, Aquinas Companies, LLC; adjunct professor, Rice University, and lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Chester Finn, president, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation (moderator)
Conference Location and Accommodations:
The Houstonian
111 North Post Oak Lane
Houston, Texas 77024
800.231.2759
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For more information on the content of this program, please contact Rebecca Stewart at 202.822.8333 or RStewart@PhilanthropyRoundtable.org.
The mission of The Philanthropy Roundtable's K-12 Education Breakthrough Group is to help donors achieve dramatic improvements in K-12 education, especially for low-income and minority children. We place a special emphasis on competition and parental choice, freedom and accountability for schools, excellent teachers and leaders, and high standards and expectations for students of all backgrounds.
