Inspired Schooling
Seeing that “factory-style” public schools were having poor results, teacher Dan Scoggin went looking for an alternative. He became convinced that an emphasis on character development, linked to a demanding Read more…
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Broad Prizes
The $1 million Broad Prize, the largest K-12 education award in the country, was created in 2002 to reward urban public-school districts that “demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement Read more…
Hewlett and Packard Families Make Stanford a Powerhouse
In 2001, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation made an historic announcement that it would be donating $400 million to Stanford University to reinforce its academic programs. This was just Read more…
Largest Gift in History to a College
In 2001, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of chip manufacturer Intel and author of many scientific papers and patents on semiconductors, gave the California Institute of Technology a massive $600 million Read more…
New Leaders for New Schools
In 2000, a group of students at the Harvard Business School became finalists in its annual business-plan contest with a proposal for a new organization to train principals. Later that Read more…
Don Fisher Takes KIPP Nationwide
For education-reform advocates, the KIPP Schools are among the greatest successes of recent history. Started in 1994 by David Levin and Mike Feinberg, two teachers fresh from Teach For America Read more…
Melding Work and High School via Cristo Rey
For years, venture capitalist B. J. Cassin gave scholarships to inner-city kids; then he wanted to help on a wider scale. In 2000 he and his daughter visited Chicago to Read more…
Reading in Mississippi
After selling his company Netscape, Jim Barksdale and his wife, Sally, gave the largest gift ever to improve literacy, $100 million, to start the Barksdale Reading Institute at the University Read more…
Center for Research on Education Outcomes
Multi-year foundation funding totaling $1.25 million allowed the creation of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at the University of Rochester in 1999. It was guided by one Read more…
Jubilee Schools
When he became Catholic bishop of Memphis, Tennessee, says Terry Steib, “I was shocked that our schools were closing. I thought, ‘That’s not the church’s way.’” In 1999 he announced Read more…
Stephen Adams Contributes to Yale School of Music
Given his roaring success in business and private equity it was no surprise when Stephen Adams offered a large financial contribution to Yale University. What did come as a surprise Read more…
Rating Teacher Colleges
Until very recently there was no comprehensive review to assess U.S. teacher colleges, as other sectors and services are rated. That changed in 2013 when the National Council on Teacher Read more…
Historic Hudson Valley
John Rockefeller Jr. was an ardent antiquarian and historic preservationist (as indicated by the money and energy he poured into recreating Colonial Williamsburg—see 1927 entry). These interests extended to the Read more…
Chopping the Price of College Textbooks
College students shelled out an average of more than $1,200 each for books and supplies in the 2013-2014 school year, according to the College Board. In many basic subjects like Read more…
Silicon Schools Fund
Concerned that the prevailing “factory model” of education doesn’t serve either students or teachers well, a group of reformers banded together in 2012 to encourage the personalization of schooling via Read more…
Providing an International Yardstick to Measure U.S. Schools
America’s schools no longer compete just with each other; they must be measured against counterparts in other countries that are turning out inventors, workers, and citizens of the future. With Read more…
Cornell Tech
When New York City launched a competition to create a great technical college and business incubator from scratch on Roosevelt Island, right next to Manhattan, many of the world’s leading Read more…
Philadelphia School Partnership
Only 15 percent of eighth-grade public-school students in Philadelphia performed at grade level in 2009, one of the worst performances in the country. The city school district was bureaucratic, broke, Read more…
Newark’s School Struggle
The Newark, New Jersey, school district has the dual notoriety of being one of the most expensive in the country (with-per pupil spending of up to $24,000, and a ratio Read more…
Common Core State Standards
In 2008, a big effort to raise standards for English and math instruction and reduce the number of high-school graduates unprepared for college work was percolating through the National Governors Read more…