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Live from Summit 2012: Looking to the Future

Today’s final session drew our Summit to a close with a discussion on the prospects for change that will benefit the education of America’s 15 million low-income children. Ted Mitchell, New Schools Venture Fund CEO, began by encouraging everyone to consider the ideas shared in the discussions throughout the day. Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson Collective and NewSchools Venture Fund Board Member, interviewed the City of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.Mayor Emanuel told the […] Read more

Live from Summit 2012: The View from the Other Side – Entrepreneurs Running Systems

Numerous leaders with backgrounds in entrepreneurial organizations have gone on to lead large traditional school systems. This afternoon’s panel asked current superintendents how their previous experience has informed their views as public school district leaders? Jim Blew, of the Walton Family Foundation, moderated a panel with leaders from three public school systems. Cami Anderson, of Newark Public Schools, was involved in the Teach for America (TFA) program early in her career. Now that […] Read more

Live From Summit 2012: Race to the Top – Are We Closer to the Finish Line?

It has been two years since Race to the Top launched, and this afternoon’s lunch panel, hosted by NBC News’s Rehema Ellis, discussed how far we have come, and what obstacles remain.Ellis started off by asking Joanne Weiss, of the U.S. Department of Education, if she felt Race to the Top is the defining program that’s going to make a difference to the 15 million children living in poverty.Weiss stressed that “There […] Read more

Live From Summit 2012: Kicking Off the Day!

This morning’s opening session kicked off the second day of the NewSchools-Aspen Institute Venture Fund Summit 2012. Today there will be numerous conference sessions with thought-provoking speakers on tap. From our opening session to our closing plenary, we will update you on what’s going on and who said what, so stay tuned!This morning started with Laysha Ward, of presenting sponsor Target, greeting the enthusiastic morning crowd. “It’s a privilege to join this […] Read more

Summit 2011: What’s New? What’s Next?

The first NewSchools Summit took place in Silicon Valley in October 1999. That gathering brought together 200 education entrepreneurs to learn from each other and discuss ways to build ventures that would provide excellent educational opportunities for all children. Eleven years later, talk of education innovation is everywhere – from network television to blogosphere debates to the State of the Union address. A new generation of entrepreneurs is seeking disruptive ways to […] Read more

More video: supercharging student achievement

In this final set of videos from the NewSchools Summit 2010, speakers at the Community of Practice event — held the day before the Summit with a smaller set of about 200 entrepreneurs and other practitioners — talked about the power of technology to help close the achievement gap. In the morning, participants heard about entrepreneurial efforts like School of One (a NewSchools grantee) and the Quest to Learn “school for digital […] Read more

More Summit 2010 session videos now available

At the NewSchools Summit in Washington, D.C. in May, the day started out with heavy-hitting dialogue about the progress of education reform, and ended with an urgent call to keep pushing to address the achievement gap. But what happened in between? Breakout sessions addressed tactical challenges for education entrepreneurs to pursue in the year ahead, including whether or not to partner with traditional school systems, how to communicate effectively about their work and […] Read more

Now available: videos from NewSchools Summit 2010 general sessions

Were you paying attention at the NewSchools Summit in DC this spring? Think you know who makes what plea to the entrepreneurial education movement? Then match the speaker with the memorable quote: 1. “No more Mister Nice Guy.” 2. “All means all.” 3. “The challenge before you now is to make these extraordinary successes a little less extraordinary.” 4. “Go hard or go home.” A. Susan Colby, Bridgespan Group B. Chancellor Michelle […] Read more

Bridgespan’s Susan Colby: “All means all”

Bridgespan has posted Susan Colby’s presentation from the NewSchools Summit 2010, in which she implored the audience “to focus relentlessly on the destination of all children having the means to achieve their dreams.” The remarks surveyed what education entrepreneurs have accomplished and what lies ahead, and kicked off a session on what it will take for the entrepreneurial education sector to scale up its impact in the years ahead. You can view […] Read more

Education in the post-NCLB era

Education reform has taken a subtle but sharp turn in recent years, notes Kevin Carey of Education Sector in a thoughtful, lengthy blog post: “When I began working on education policy full-time in the early 2000’s, the center of gravity in education reform sat with the coalition of civil rights advocates, business leaders, and reform-minded governors of both parties who pushed NCLB through Congress in 2001. To find that same hum of ideas and […] Read more