Sustaining Philanthropic Investments in Public Schools
The Academy is examining how private funders can increase their impact on elementary
and secondary education and ways to encourage more rigorous and consistent evaluations
of philanthropic projects in education. It is also working to build a new network
of philanthropists and grantees from across the nation who can discuss ways to share
information and best practices about project design and evaluation.
Topics may include:
- Designing a Grant with Evaluation in Mind. A well-designed grant, including methods for formative as well as summative evaluation,
can assist project directors and philanthropists in honing their efforts and increasing
the impact of philanthropic funding. We will look at the integration of evaluation
methods in a grant, the collection of baseline data, and ways to track students
over time.
- Developing Models for Independent School Data Organizations. Researchers and practitioners in elementary and secondary education have expressed
a desire for a common database or data system to help collect information about
the efficacy of privately funded programs in public education. We will examine the
role of independently run school data organizations and offer at least one model
for how philanthropists can benefit from emerging data programs. We will also explore
how partnerships among universities, philanthropists, and education practitioners
can contribute to P-20 education reform.
- Examining Other Models of High-Impact Investment. We will look at partnerships among university researchers, philanthropists, and
education practitioners, including continuing education programs for teachers and
summer school programs for high school students, among others. Such partnerships
are attractive because they allow philanthropists to invest in educational research
with significant, quantifiable, and relatively quick results, and because they encourage
the development of a new education network involving “faculty” from all levels,
P-20.
- Developing a New Ecosystem for P-20 Education. We will study ways to integrate the different levels of education research and
practice and begin to create a new, unified education ecosystem.
The organizing group includes Academy staff with Paul Goren (Consortium for
Chicago Public Schools), Thomas Kane (Harvard Graduate School of Education),
and James Kemple (Research Alliance for New York City Schools).
The Academy is grateful to the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation for launching
this project.
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