K-12 Education
Total Redesign
Think your only option for reforming public education is to nibble around the edges? Not anymore. A cohort of education reformers frustrated with the pace of progress in school districts are pushing for new, decentralized, portfolio-based systems that would increase autonomy, improve budgeting, and enhance choices for parents.
About K-12 Education Programs
Dedicated reformers have made remarkable gains in improving K-12 education over the past two decades, from expanding high-performing charter school networks to investing in excellent teachers and school leaders. Strategic philanthropy has been one of the most effective tools in advancing these breakthroughs. The Philanthropy Roundtable seeks to further increase and improve K-12 education reform philanthropy by connecting thought-leaders, practitioners, and donors with one another.
Mission Possible: How Charter Schools Can Start-Up, Scale, and Succeed
At The Philanthropy Roundtable’s 2013 National Forum on K-12 Philanthropy, Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools discussed the creation, growth, and outsized political influence of Success Academy.
Magna Charter
Andy Smarick argues that American public education cannot thrive until the existing urban school district is replaced by the charter ethic.
Guidebook — k 12 education
Blended Learning
Few innovations in education today offer as much potential to transform how students are educated as the rise blended learning. The Philanthropy Roundtable’s new guidebook by Laura Vanderkam explores this crucial new field and the rich opportunities for brave and savvy givers to lead the education establishment toward a more excellent future.
Blended Learning Resources
Along with our new Blended Learning guidebook, we have compiled resources—from the best videos to books, blogs, and more—to help better acquaint you with today’s most promising experiments in K–12 education.
They Shall Overcome
Meet the K–12 reform donors who strategically balance charitable giving, legislative advocacy, and direct political engagement. Philanthropy editor-in-chief Christopher Levenick reports in this cover story from our Spring issue on K-12 giving.
Interview with Eli Broad, the Investor
When it comes to re-imagining how America's children can learn, Eli and Edythe Broad are among the nation's most visionary philanthropists. Their investments range across the full spectrum of educational reform, from advocacy to personnel to technology. Take a look at our interview with Broad, in which he details progress on his efforts to dramatically improve American K–12 education.
Interview with Betsy DeVos, the Reformer
For years, Betsy DeVos has been at the forefront of the educational-reform movement. Today, as chairman of the American Federation for Children, she is pushing to promote parental choice in American public education. In this feature interview, DeVos explains how she is working to make it possible for all of the nation's parents—regardless of their zip code—to find the right school for their children.
Interview with Michelle Rhee
Former Chancellor of Schools for the District of Columbia Michelle Rhee spoke with Philanthropy magazine about her work with StudentsFirst and the crucial role of issue advocacy in education reform.
Common Core’s Uncommon Rise
Released in 2010, the Common Core Standards are the first set of shared, nationwide, grade-by-grade benchmarks for what students are expected to learn. Liam Julian details how philanthropists helped create a movement for national standards.
Lessons in Citizenship
American students are increasingly ignorant of American civics, notes Naomi Schaefer Riley. Fortunately, a few private donors have taken the lead in the effort to restore a healthy appreciation for the Founding principles.
Blending, Upending
Is blended learning the disruptive innovation of K–12 reform? Check out this preview from The Philanthropy Roundtable’s new guidebook “Blended Learning: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Supporting Tech-assisted Teaching” by Laura Vanderkam.
K-12 Donor Resource Library
Our K-12 resource library provides you with quick access to our latest K-12 education guidebooks as well as resources from past K-12 meetings and events. Go here to view and download these free resource materials.
Mr. Unreasonable
Eli Broad sits down with “Philanthropy” magazine to discuss his giving to medical research, modern art, and K–12 education.
Sal Khan Talks
The way students learn in traditional classrooms is beginning to change. With philanthropic support, Sal Khan and his colleagues at the Khan Academy are integrating self-paced computerized tutorials with live instruction and daily computerized assessment in model schools, and the results could revolutionize teaching.
Lasting Investments in Education
Chester Finn Jr., president and CEO of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, names the current, private, charitable investments in education that people will be talking about a century from now. Read this special excerpt from our Winter 2011 symposium.
Five Achievable Breakthroughs in K–12 Education
The breakthroughs in education reform over the past several years are well known: Teach For America has provided leadership for the K–12 education reform movement, and charter schools like KIPP and YES Prep are on their way to scale. But what will the breakthroughs of the next decade be? And how will they build on past achievements? At a Philanthropy Roundtable conference in Houston, donors laid out the game plan for new breakthroughs.
Guidebook — k 12 education
Saving America’s Urban Catholic Schools
Catholic schools nationwide—and especially in the inner cities—face a series of escalating challenges which continue to threaten their future viability. If these schools are to continue their mission of providing high-quality educational options for the families that need them most, urban Catholic schools will need strategic philanthropic support from donors of all faiths.
An Episcopalian, an Atheist, and a Jew Walk into a Catholic School. . .
No, it’s not the setup to a joke. Donors of many faiths (and none at all) are stepping up to support America’s inner-city Catholic schools. Why? Because they see these schools as a vital national resource. For these non-Catholic “patron saints” of Catholic schools, it’s all about giving at-risk children a chance to achieve.
Minding the Gap
How can American colleges create the next generation of leading scientists and engineers? Freeman Hrabowski discusses the importance of elevating academic achievement and developing successful math and science education at The Philanthropy Roundtable’s recent annual spring K–12 event.
Growing Up Fast
Jay Mathews reports on the dramatic success of Houston’s two largest charter school networks, KIPP and YES. By 2017 they intend to be serving roughly 15 percent of all Houston public school students. Will Houston’s charter school expansion revolutionize urban education?
Guidebook — k 12 education
Investing in Charter Schools: A Guide for Donors
While charter schooling remains one of the nation’s most promising efforts to produce more excellent public schools, especially for low-income and minority students, the question is now one of expansion. How can donors help take the best of the charter sector to scale—while at the same time maintaining high standards of quality?
