Posted on November 5, 2009

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Ford Foundation Launches $100 Million Initiative to 'Transform' Secondary Education

The Ford Foundation has announced the launch of a seven-year, $100 million initiative to help transform secondary education by fostering the conditions and resources needed to provide a good education at some of the nation's most disadvantaged urban public schools.

Driven by widening gaps in educational opportunities and persistent gaps in achievement, the initiative will support organizations working to promote a just and fair public school system in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Denver, and Newark, New Jersey. Working in partnership with parents, teachers, students, community organizations, and local funders, the initiative will provide funding for projects that address four elements of school infrastructure that could improve the quality of education provided to the nation's most vulnerable students: sufficient and equitable school financing, quality teaching, additional and more useful learning time, and meaningful accountability.

Early grants from the initiative include awards to the American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences in Washington, D.C., to develop new finance models to ensure that funds are allocated and dispensed in fair and equitable ways; Brooklyn-based Generation Schools to refine and test the organization's extended day model; and Stanford University to write and distribute a series of papers exploring state-of-the-art assessment models.

"Improving our schools and giving the most vulnerable young people real educational opportunities benefits all of us," said Ford Foundation president Luis Ubiñas. "With this initiative we want to shake up the conversations surrounding school reform and help spur some truly imaginative thinking and partnerships."

“Ford Foundation Commits $100 Million to Transform Secondary Education in the Nation's Most Disadvantaged Schools.” Ford Foundation Press Release 11/04/09.

Primary Subject: Education
Secondary Subject(s): Elementary and Secondary Education
Location(s): California, Chicago, Colorado, Denver, Detroit, Illinois, Los Angeles, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, New York, New York City, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

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