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Education Entrepreneurs: Jennifer Green and Christina Hall

With school just beginning, parents across the country are particularly attuned to whether their child got into the classroom of the best teacher for the grade level. When there’s a brand new teacher in the classroom, it’s hard to know whether to be excited or not. The two entrepreneurs who co-founded the Urban Teacher Center set out to change that. Jennifer Green and Christina Hall’s vision is that a new teacher will […] Read more

Education Entrepreneurs: Simmons Lettre and Carrie Irvin

A year ago, a Charter Board Partners “team meeting” meant co-founders Simmons Lettre and Carrie Irvin gathering around Carrie’s kitchen table. Today, their seven-person team serves over 30% of DC’s charter schools by providing customized support on charter school governance. Their theory of action is simple yet powerful—great boards will lead to great schools.As a movement, we’ve often relied on the “superhero” school leader—someone who can simultaneously provide feedback on a mini-lesson, […] Read more

Education Entrepreneurs: Eric Westendorf and Alix Guerrier

Having played sports for most of my life I’d consider myself a master of the “high-fives” – there wasn’t one I hadn’t tried. That is, until I met LearnZillion co-founders Eric Westendorf and Alix Guerrier who introduced me to their aptly named “aggressive high-five.” My first encounter with the aggressive high-five came this past June when I was lucky enough to snag an invite to LearnZillion’s TeachFest. For this event Eric and […] Read more

STEAM-powered engine to Mars

After watching NASA’s rover Curiosity land safely—and with unbelievable panache—on the Martian surface late Sunday evening, I heard a shock jock on a local sports radio show bemoaning the attention the mission was garnering. “I guess I know this is a big deal to some people, but I think we’re going overboard here,” he said. “This must be the way science people feel when they look at how excited we get about […] Read more

Education > Poverty

You might not recognize the names of the headliners at Summit 2012. No, I’m not referring to Howard Fuller, Roland Fryer, or even Rahm Emanuel. I’m talking about Donaldo, Juan, Paris, and Javon: students whose stories were featured throughout the day in video, photographs, and the written word.These students, like nearly 15 million other US children, are growing up in households with incomes at or below the federal poverty level. Often, their […] Read more

Educreations Policy Update

NewSchools Policy Director Ben Riley provides a great overview of two new education bills that were introduced last Friday, January 6 in the House Education and Workforce Committee. In his short video, Ben provides a run-down of the Student Success Act and the Encouraging Innovation & Effective Teachers Act. Ben’s using a great new app called Educreations, which allows users to create video “lessons” à la Khan Academy. (Their tagline is “Teach what you know. […] Read more

The Future of Education

We invited leading education entrepreneurs to share their thoughts about the future of education. Hear their hopes and goals for the future of education and the education reform movement in this final installment of the NewSchools Presents video series. You’ll hear from Larry Rosenstock (High Tech High), Jessica Cunningham (KIPP DC), Sal Khan (Khan Academy), Marijke Smit (Project Frog), Bill Jackson (GreatSchools), Alexandra Bernadotte (Beyond 12), Scott Given (Unlocking Potential Schools), and […] Read more

Celebrating Education Entrepreneurs in Video

Education entrepreneurs are as diverse as the communities they serve. This week we continue our celebration of these passionate social innovators by featuring three entrepreneurs that are making a difference in lives of children in ways often overlooked by education reformers. During the life of our second fund (2002-2006), NewSchools identified an important need in the education market around charter school real estate. One of the biggest hurdles that charter schools face in […] Read more

NewSchools Presents: Bill Jackson, GreatSchools

In 1998, Kim Smith, a student at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teamed up with famed venture capitalist John Doerr and Brook Byers to build an organization whose mission was to transform education by supporting education entrepreneurs. The trio recognized that entrepreneurs had revolutionized the fields of science, medicine, and technology, and wanted to bring that same innovative spark to the world of education.Their idea became NewSchools Venture Fund, and an entrepreneur […] Read more

NewSchools Presents: Alexandra Bernadotte and Scott Given

When we invited education entrepreneurs to tell their stories in our Story Booth at NewSchools Summit 2011 earlier this year we were completely unprepared for the response we received. We heard from a diverse group of social innovators, fiercely dedicated to improving public education for all children. They spoke the experiences which led them to take on such challenging work, and their thoughts on the future of education reform.This week we’re releasing […] Read more