What We’ve Learned from our Focus on Excellence and Equity in Education Innovation
By Frances Messano, President Over the past seven years, NewSchools has been intentional about centering racial equity and investing in leaders of color. Along the way, we’ve heard rumblings that some white leaders believe they shouldn’t apply for funding because their chances of receiving a grant are lower. Nothing could be further from the truth. […]
My First and Only Latina Teacher: Why Teacher Diversity Matters
Katiusca Moreno, Senior Partner Most of us remember the teachers who made a powerful difference in our lives. I remember the ones who felt like family. For me, Ms. Heyward was one of those teachers. She was my seventh grade social studies teacher who kept a small Puerto Rican […]
Investors Often Ignore Entrepreneurs of Color. NewSchools Venture Fund Wants to Change That
This blog was originally published by EdWeek MarketBrief on May 28, 2021 and can be found on their website here. Investors Often Ignore Entrepreneurs of Color. NewSchools Venture Fund Wants to Change That By Sean Cavanagh | May 28, 2021 Frances Messano wants her organization to nurture promising, diverse talent within school districts — and […]
A Major K-12 Funder Takes the Participatory Grantmaking Plunge
This blog was originally published by Inside Philanthropy on May 25, 2021 and can be found on their website here. A Major K-12 Funder Takes the Participatory Grantmaking Plunge By Connie Matthiessen | May 25, 2021 Participatory grantmaking: It isn’t a term that rolls off the tongue, and yet many people in the philanthropy world […]
New Research: More Principals of Color May Be the Key to Diversifying the Teacher Workforce
By Erin Harless, Manager of Research and Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund One of the biggest talent challenges facing the education sector today is the demographic mismatch between the students attending PK-12 public schools and the teachers and leaders who serve them. Today’s students are the most diverse in the history of our nation. Yet, the […]
What are pandemic pods, and what do they mean for education?
By Jason Weeby, Director of Strategic Initiatives, NewSchools Venture Fund Occasionally, after the kids are in bed, my neighbor comes over to have a beer. Sitting six feet apart in my backyard, we compare notes on how we’re coping as we raise young kids during a pandemic and a national reckoning with racism. After the […]
Do Black Lives Matter in Education Reform?
By Natalie Wilson, Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund I have spent the past five years searching for a public school that I am not certain exists. I am a single mom to a lively, brilliant, rising fifth grader, Gabrielle, who embodies the phrase #BlackGirlMagic. Over the last five years, we’ve moved from Chicago to Philadelphia to […]
Eight Reasons I’m Hopeful for Racial Justice and Equity
By Antonio Tapia, Senior Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund Image via KPFA My daughter, Samira, and hundreds of other young people were protesting the death of George Floyd at Oakland Technical High School some weeks ago. Despite the risk of contracting COVID-19, she ultimately decided that she needed to have her presence felt, and her […]
Our Moral Imperative: Racial Equity and the Public School System
By Frances Messano, senior managing partner, NewSchools Venture Fund Educators are preparing for a fall as their school communities — and the rest of the world — grapple with the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic anti-Black racial injustice. As a national nonprofit that supports and invests in promising teams of educators and innovators who want to reimagine learning, […]
Reducing Bias in Virtual Teacher Hiring
By Antonio Tapia, Senior Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund It wasn’t too long ago that we sat around a table and asked teacher candidates questions in a face-to-face interview. We offered them coffee, took them around the classrooms, and introduced them to the teaching staff before settling in to get to know them. Since the […]