Don’t Give Up on Big, Long-Term Bets
By Stacey Childress, Chief Executive Officer To say young people have been under a lot of pressure over the last few years feels like a gross understatement. And for those of us who raise and give philanthropic dollars in education, it’s hard to know what to do with resources at a time when everything feels […]
Advancing an Integrated Vision for Excellence, Innovation, and Equity
By Stacey Childress, Chief Executive Officer As NewSchools prepares for a new chapter under our incoming CEO, Frances Messano, I have been reflecting on the work our team has done over the last eight years to strengthen public education. A key insight I had when I joined the organization in 2014 was that in order […]
MacKenzie Scott Makes Historic Gift to NewSchools Venture Fund
By Frances Messano and Stacey Childress We are thrilled to announce that NewSchools Venture Fund has received an incredible $35M investment from MacKenzie Scott—a gift that allows us to continue to provide unrestricted dream capital to the innovators we fund. This is the single largest contribution NewSchools has received to date, and these funds will […]
Five Things We’re Learning from Schools in Our Portfolio
By Stacey Childress, CEO, NewSchools Venture Fund Enthusiasm for social emotional learning has reached a fever pitch among policymakers and funders. Whether it’s framed as a focus on the whole child, comprehensive student development or a richer vision for student learning, expanding beyond math and reading scores as markers of school and student success has […]
Reposted from Medium.com: Here’s What We’re Learning From Schools
Our team at NewSchools has been wrestling with a challenge. While there is growing consensus that schools should focus on more than reading and math scores, the field lacks agreement on which additional indicators are most important and how to measure them. Which competencies and school culture/climate factors are most important? How can they best […]
An Intentional Decision to Advance Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Today, Grantmakers for Education (GFE) is releasing a case study that chronicles our ongoing efforts at NewSchools to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive investor and organization. I’ll be joining my colleagues Frances Messano and Deborah McGriff when the case study — which also features the work of the Lumina Foundation– is discussed […]
Fostering More Productive Dialogue and Action
Today, together with the American Enterprise Institute, we are releasing a summary of a private roundtable discussion we co-hosted in January. A diverse group of education leaders met privately for several hours to talk candidly about our philosophical and political differences and how they influence our goals and strategies for improving education. We also discussed how […]
Reposted From EdSurge: What Could $4 Billion Do for American Education?
The following post was originally published on EdSurge by Stacey Childress: Every January, it’s customary to make resolutions and predictions for the new year. This year, I want to go all out and make a prediction not just for the next year, but for the next decade. The caveat is that this prediction can only come […]
Now’s the Time to Reimagine Learning
And, if you think so, too…we should be talking. NewSchools invests in the most creative ideas and supports visionary leaders with the potential to reshape the learning experience to help every student reach his or her highest aspirations. That’s why today we are announcing nearly $7 million in funding opportunities across our three investment areas. […]
Why We Support Innovative Schools
We love graduation season at NewSchools! It reminds us why we support innovative schools. A big part of our work is supporting new innovative schools with the potential to become great networks. Through our Invent program, we fund the planning and launch of the first and second schools of emerging innovative charter networks. (We also fund new […]