Investment Strategy
NewSchools Venture Fund seeks to transform public education by leveraging the power of entrepreneurs to effect change. NewSchools believes that creating successful alternative approaches to public education will ultimately influence traditional school systems so that they provide high-quality learning opportunities for all students.
Given the scale of this challenge, the investment strategy for our third fund primarily focuses around several key cities, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Oakland, and New Orleans. We chose these target communities because of their size, history of underperformance and potential for transformative change. Concentrating our time and resources in select areas allows us to focus our efforts and strengthen local relationships. In these markets, we are working to build an influential portfolio of successful, scalable and sustainable entrepreneurial organizations that will provide high-quality educational opportunities for underserved children – and also create momentum for broader reform efforts.
Through this third fund, NewSchools will build on our earlier work by continuing to develop new systems of charter schools and support other entrepreneurial solutions that address the needs of all public schools. In so doing, we expect to help our portfolio ventures deliver strong educational outcomes, while also helping create dramatic change within the larger school system.
As such, our current fund will invest in the following areas:
- Charter Management Organizations (CMOs): aligned nonprofit systems of charter schools
- School Support Organizations: organizations that provide additional infrastructure to schools to bolster their operational, academic and administrative functions
- Accountability and Performance Tools: organizations that provide technology tools, formative assessments, and professional development needed to dramatically improve the quality of instruction
- Human Capital: ventures that promote outstanding teaching, leadership, and entrepreneurial management in our public school systems
Ultimately, the work of NewSchools aims to accelerate the development of credible models of educational success in communities that desperately need better schools. The success of these ventures will add momentum to the movement already underway to dramatically transform public education so that it provides all students with the preparation they need to succeed in college, careers and as citizens.