Statement: NewSchools co-founder Kim Smith to lead Bellwether Education Partners

January 20, 2010 – San Francisco, CA – NewSchools Venture Fund CEO Ted Mitchell today congratulated co-founder Kim Smith on her forthcoming role as CEO of Bellwether Education Partners, a new nonprofit consulting organization designed to strengthen the leadership and organizational capacity of entrepreneurial education organizations by offering specialized executive search, strategic consulting, leadership development, and thought leadership services.

Opinion: California needs ‘Race to the Top’ funds

The ‘Race to the Top’ fund is too advantageous to ignore, the state’s Board of Education president says. That means tying teacher evaluation to student performance, and that’s a good idea.

September 15, 2009 — California soon must decide whether to make dramatic changes and lead the nation in education reform or — if it can’t or won’t change — be dragged along as other states show what bold change looks like. That’s the message U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered to a California audience this summer.

NewSchools Venture Fund Invests $1.2 million in the New Teacher Center

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 15, 2009 – NewSchools Venture Fund today announced an investment of $1.2 million in the New Teacher Center (NTC), a national nonprofit organization committed to helping teachers and their mentors have the greatest possible impact on student achievement. Since it was founded in 1998 by Ellen Moir, NTC has supported more than 49,000 teachers and 5,000 mentors, touching the lives of millions of students through comprehensive mentoring and professional development programs.

NewSchools Venture Fund Invests $1 Million in The Achievement Network (ANet)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 16, 2009 – NewSchools Venture Fund today announced an investment of $1 million in The Achievement Network (formerly called Massachusetts Public School Performance), a nonprofit organization committed to helping teachers and school leaders understand and effectively use real-time student data – test results that are made immediately available to teachers – to improve instruction and increase student achievement.

NewSchools Venture Fund Invests $1.7 Million in Success Charter Network

SAN FRANCISCO – September 8, 2009 – NewSchools Venture Fund today announced an investment of $1.7 million in Success Charter Network (SCN), a nonprofit charter management organization founded in 2006 that provides an outstanding elementary education to low-income students in New York City. This funding will help SCN expand its efforts to prove that all students can perform at high levels. By 2014, SCN anticipates operating 13 schools, serving more than 6,300 students in grades K through 8.

Innovation in Education: Problems and Opportunities

Capitalizing on the energy behind the concept of “innovation in education” requires establishing some common definitions and principles for what exactly innovation is. This shared understanding can underpin and sustain the work in practice.

Innovating Toward Excellence: Education Entrepreneurs and the Transformation of Public Education

This report summarizes key takeaways from the NewSchools Summit 2009, which took place in Pasadena, CA. The Summit brought together more than 450 participants for an agenda focused on innovation in education. Together, presenters and audience members looked at how results-based approaches and broader scaling of solutions will be the only way to drive lasting change across public education.

Duncan’s Call for School Turnarounds Sparks Debate

The U.S. secretary of education’s call to “turn around” the nation’s 5,000 worst-performing schools has found a warm welcome among educators and policymakers who see that focus as long overdue. But it has also sparked debate about how—and whether—such an enormous leadership and management challenge can be accomplished.

Letter to the Next President

This article by NewSchools’ team members Julie Mikuta and Julia Freeland originally appeared in the May/June 2008 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education. By Julie Mikuta and Julia Freeland (NewSchools Venture Fund) and Andrew Rotherham (Education Sector)

Dear 44th President of the United States,

Suprising new data on the Achievement Gap

Jonathan Schorr, a Partner at NewSchools, spoke at the 2009 Stanford Business of Education Symposium on April 30. Central to his speech was the recent McKinsey & Co. report that places a $700 billion price tag on the education achievement gap: the difference in performance between high- and low-income K-12 students.