Social Entrepreneurs Honored for Contributions to Public Education
NewSchools Venture Fund announces 2012 honorees for Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards at annual convening of education innovators Oakland, CA – May 7, 2012 – Dedicated to honoring the individuals making a difference in the lives of students in low-income communities across the country, not-for-profit venture philanthropy firm NewSchools Venture Fund announced recipients of its annual awards, […]
Summit 2012 Video: Disruption and the Public Good
Entrepreneurs have brought disruptive innovation not just to private enterprise, but to areas of public good from energy to medicine with major benefits to the public. Yet education has been slow to learn from the work of entrepreneurs in other sectors. Extraordinary entrepreneurs focused on key areas of public good, health care, green energy, and […]
High school coder gets $3M for his gradebook software, 10-years later
Classroom-management software company Engrade has closed a $3 million round of funding, just ten years after its creation by a high school student. Company founder Bri Holt developed an online gradebook in 2003, while he was still a high schooler. While I was chasing boys and trying to pass algebra, Holt was developing software that would eventually […]
Engrade Grabs $3M From Wireless Generation Co-founder To Help Teachers Manage Their Classrooms
As a high school student in 2003, Bri Holt found himself increasingly frustrated by the fact that there was no easy way for he and his classmates to view their grades online. So, being familiar with the wizardry of web development, Holt decided to build his own, laying the foundations for what would become Engrade. While […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Live From Summit 2012: Building Better New Teachers
What does excellent teacher training look like? More and more, charter organizations and districts are training their own teachers. Pioneers in the field joined a panel to provide insight on creating and running teacher preparation programs. One major topic was “What does success look like?” Michael Goldstein of Boston’s MATCH Education responded that MATCH starts […]
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 […]
Engrade Raises $3M to Unify Classroom Management into Single Platform
Santa Monica, CA—May 2, 2012—Engrade, which offers a comprehensive suite of online classroom management tools, announced today that it has closed a $3 million round of funding. The round was led by Rethink Education and joined by NewSchools Venture Fund, as well as individual investors Greg Gunn, Zac Zeitlin, and Richard Chino. The funding will […]