How Philanthropy Can Help Schools Deliver on the Promise of a Historic Investment 

By Erin Harless, Senior Manager, Research and Learning, and Nour Abdelmonem, Senior Analyst, Learning Solutions The public education sector sits at a crossroads. On one hand, school districts have access to unprecedented resources — $190 billion through the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund — to help students and educators recover from the pandemic. At the […]

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. […]

MacKenzie Scott Makes Historic Gift to NewSchools Venture Fund

NewSchools Venture Fund received $35 million Gift from MacKenzie Scott

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 […]

We Helped Two Schools Create Reopening Plans — Here Are Five Lessons

By Heather McManus, NewSchools Venture Fund & Jeff Shulz, Bellwether Education Partners Photo by Mark Rabe This post was originally published on Ahead of the Heard, the blog of Bellwether Education Partners.  With school starting in most places in a few weeks, school and network leaders are under tremendous pressure to finalize their reopening plans. With […]

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 […]

COVID-19 is Upending What “Schooltime” Means. And that’s a good thing.

By Leo Bialis-White, Senior Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund One hundred and eighty days per year. Six and a half hours per day. For decades, the lines separating in-school and out-of-school time have been clear and immutable. Families, schools, after-school providers, and unions built everything around this static structure. Now, COVID-19 is radically changing the […]

Our Moral Imperative: Racial Equity and the Public School System

Frances Messano

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, […]