Education

Welcome to our Education home page. In this area we have several products such as investment guides, donor blueprints, promising practices, and online resources such as a subscription to U.S. Domestic Issues updates and our High Impact Philanthropy Blog.

You can download all of our products for free by visiting our Investment Analysis page. See below for an overview of our work to-date.

Teaching Quality

Conversation on Improving Teachers and Teaching with Ellen Moir, The New Teacher Center and Bryan Hassel, Public Impact

Read the interview with Ellen Moir of the New Teacher Center and Bryan Hassel of Public Impact. Questions asked:

  • What do you think the balance should be between improving the skills of the average teacher, versus extending the reach of truly excellent teachers?
  • Can you talk a little about the how and why the Opportunity Culture for teachers and NTC’s e-Mentoring for Student Success programs came about?
  • What role do you see technology playing in your work going forward? What about the relative lack of a research or evidence base about what works with regard to digital learning? How do you think about this as practitioners?
  • How has philanthropic capital contributed to your work thus far? Where do you see philanthropic capital playing an important role in moving both your work and your broader agenda forward?

Podcast: Averting a Train Wreck in Human Capital: A discussion on teaching quality

A discussion about the current challenges and opportunities in education with Linda Katz of Children's Literacy Initiative, Andrew Belton of Bridgespan, and Kat Rosqueta of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy. 


 

High Impact Philanthropy to Improve Teaching Quality: Focus on High-Need Secondary Students (Winter 2011)

View the full report of High Impact Philanthropy to Improve Teaching Quality. (Adobe Flash Player required.) Download/Print the pdf of High Impact Philanthropy to Improve Teaching Quality from our Investment Analysis. Download the Executive Summary.

For donors seeking to improve student outcomes, the critical question is: How can my funds improve teaching quality?

Why this, why now?

Over the past twenty years, despite increases in perpupil spending, dropout rates remain alarmingly high, achievement gaps persist, and U.S. students rank behind their peers in many other countries.

Researchers, educators, and funders across the political spectrum increasingly agree that change is needed, and that teachers are the single most crucial lever for accomplishing that change.

Read more...

Video: Katherina Rosqueta and Kate Barrett discuss "High Impact Philanthropy to Improve Teaching Quality"

The Education Pathway

Pathways to Student Success: A Guide To Translating Good Intentions Into Meaningful Impact (December 2008)

View the full report of Pathways to Student Success. (Adobe Flash Player required.) Download/Print the pdf of Pathways to Student Success from our Investment Analysis. 

Over a million students—mostly poor and not white—drop out of U.S. schools each year. This fact is not likely to be news to anyone committed to improving educational opportunities for our nation’s at-risk students. But, despite good intentions, individuals often lack the time, relevant experience, and expertise to understand where their capital can have the greatest impact.

Pathways to Student Success: A Guide to Translating Good Intentions into Meaningful Impact was written for just such individuals who seek to go beyond charity by actively searching for opportunities to produce as much good as possible with the dollars available. In the guide, the Center addresses the critical questions that must be answered to achieve the biggest bang for every philanthropic buck, including what is a meaningful change to target, what activities lead to that change for at-risk students, and how much does it cost to make that change. Read more...