We’ve Launched NewSchools Catapult: Invent 2015
We are thrilled to announce the launch NewSchools Catapult, the first endeavor of our new national strategy. Its goal over the next several years is to propel successive waves of education entrepreneurs to launch new schools – the kinds of audacious, life-altering schools that can truly prepare our students to pursue their most ambitious dreams. In keeping with our mission and core values, our focus is on schools that serve significant numbers of underserved students in grades PreK-12 and will be operated by (a) early-stage charter networks for which this would be their first or second school or (b) district-operated schools with sufficient autonomy and support to realize their vision.
Our Commitment to Diversifying Education
Many education reformers ask, “Why should we focus on closing the demographic gap between the children we serve and the leaders of the ed reform movement?” Our answer is simple. Research shows that diversity matters, and a sustainable education reform movement requires a community to participate in its own liberation to achieve the practice of freedom.
NewSchools’ Strategy at a Glance
Over the past month, we have been sharing a couple of the pillars of our strategy going forward. The infographic below captures our vision, rationale and approach in a more visual way. We’re excited to share it, and even more excited about the work ahead.
Diversifying Education:
Stories of Action
At this year’s Summit, 205 organizations, including NewSchools, committed to enhancing diversity in their leadership ranks. As we reflected on our stories of action, we realized how challenging the work can be and how much we all can benefit from sharing ideas, questions, steps taken and lessons learned with others in the field. We encourage you to browse our and other organization’s stories of action below and hope it will inspire you to submit your own.
Do you have diversity work to share? Let us know using #DiversifyEd! Tweet #DiversifyEd
Achievement Prep Invests in African American Male Leaders
22% of leadership positions in our network are held by African American men. We hear a consistent message from our African American male leaders that they strive to be examples of positivity for our scholars, despite a pervasive public message to our children about the dubious position of African American men in our society. These gentlemen provide our predominately African American scholar population with real and varied models of leadership within our […]OneGoal: Taking intentional steps to strengthen our approach to staff diversity + inclusion
Since 2012, we increased staff diversity from 13% to 38%. By the end of 2015 we will broaden our pipeline to increase diversity in our candidate pool, and establish org-wide diversity and inclusiveness strategies.We seek to ensure that every student, regardless of background, has a legitimate opportunity to be successful. OneGoal’s focus on inclusion will allow us to authentically and strategically leverage differences in order to model what is possible for our […]Camelback Fellows Announces New Class of 2015
At Camelback Ventures, our mission is to diversify the social innovation ecosystem by leveraging the genius of all people. To close the opportunity gap we need all talent—including underrepresented entrepreneurs. It is not just a moral imperative, but a strategy for change. In March 2015, Camelback launched its first “official” class of Camelback Fellows. These fellows are launching innovative schools, creating tech products, and building services to ensure improve education.DC Prep Ramps Up Diversity Training & Recruitment
Increasing diversity across DC Prep’s organization is a strategic priority. During summer 2014, DC Prep launched a set of ongoing Cultural Competency trainings with leadership teams in its award-winning network of preschool-8th grade public charter schools. DC Prep has also increased diversity of the Home Office staff, and its Talent Team will be implementing diversity recruitment/retention initiatives as the organization gears up to launch its fifth campus in the 2015-16 school year!UP Education Network Assembles its 2nd Diversity and Inclusivity Task Force
UP Education’s second Diversity and Inclusivity Task Force is creating a scorecard to measure our organization’s progress and performance in the areas of recruiting, hiring, training, supporting, promoting, and retaining a diverse group of employees.We look forward to hearing the diverse voices and perspectives from across the network and holding ourselves accountable for realizing our vision of diversity and inclusivity.Beyond Z Accelerator Preparing Diverse Next Generation Leaders
Beyond Z believes leaders can emerge from everywhere and is creating a new talent strategy for the country. Their career accelerator empowers promising young people on their path to college graduation, meaningful careers, and lives of impact. They are creating a model to discover, develop, and connect at least 100,000 extraordinary, diverse young people to high-quality skill building, opportunities, and networks. From the Accelerator will come a generation of leaders as diverse […]UP Education Network Invests in its Staff
UP Education Network launched the first ever Bridge Mentoring Program for employees of color who have an interest in exploring career pathways in the Network. Mentees will work with mentors to identify existing leadership opportunities in line with their career goals and trajectory and participate in on-going professional development. Through this program, we will create a sense of community to ensure our staff of color know that we are invested in their […]New Research on Hispanic Families’ Use of Media for Learning from JGCC
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center released three reports that explore the diverse and growing Hispanic population in the U.S. and how these families are using media to promote learning at home. Aprendiendo en casa reveals findings from a national parent survey; Connecting to Learn recommends policy solutions to improve digital equity among low-income Hispanic families; and Digital Media and Latino Families examines how technology proliferation affects family and community relationships.New Leaders Prepares Diverse Top Talent for High-Need Schools
New Leaders is committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of their background or zip code, are prepared for success in college, careers and citizenship. Children, and particularly students of color, benefit when led and taught by racially diverse educators. Over fifteen years, New Leaders has strategically recruited and developed outstanding principals and teacher leaders for America’s highest-need schools. The result is a national network of transformational leaders, 75% of whom are […]US DOE Convenes Leaders to Increase Diversity in Education Reform
On January 29-30, the U.S. Department of Education brought together over 50 education reform leaders for the first meeting, or “First Steps Forum” in a collaboration called, “Our Students, Our Leaders: Increasing the Diversity of Education Reform Leadership.” Participants came from education organizations across the country and left with action plans to close the demographic gap between students and leaders in education reform. At an early 2016 meeting each 2015 participant will […]
What action are you taking to enhance and improve diversity in your organization? Have an opinion, an idea or a question about what needs to happen to effectively diversify education leadership?
Share with us via twitter with #DiversifyEd, and please include a photo!