With the Best of Intentions
Lessons Learned in K-12 Education Philanthropy

While philanthropical efforts such as the Gates small school initiative, the Annenberg challenge, and the Broad Prize for Urban Education appear to constitute only a small portion of total U.S. K-12 spending, there is reason to believe these efforts may have a disproportionate impact in shaping reform agendas and promoting broader change.

This conference will examine key aspects of K-12 philanthropy, including donor strategies, accountability, and effectiveness. The analyses and discussion will provide practical guidance and raise important questions for public officials, parents, educators, and the philanthropic community. Topics of discussion will include: How much money is there? What strategies are getting funded, and what do we know of their effects? How do funders decide what to fund? What are the practical challenges that bedevil funders? What lessons might education philanthropists draw from other sectors or from other nations? How can these lessons be used to invest more wisely and more effectively?

About the Author

 

Frederick M.
Hess



  • An educator, political scientist and author, Frederick M. Hess studies a range of K-12 and higher education issues. He is the author of influential books on education including “The Same Thing Over and Over,” “Education Unbound,” “ Common Sense School Reform,” “ Revolution at the Margins” and “Spinning Wheels,” and he pens the Education Week blog, Rick Hess Straight Up. His work has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, American Politics Quarterly, Chronicle of Higher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, U.S. News & World Report, National Affairs, The Washington Post, New York Times, The Atlantic and National Review. He has edited widely cited volumes on education philanthropy, stretching the school dollar, the impact of education research and No Child Left Behind.  He serves as executive editor of Education Next, as lead faculty member for the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program, on the review boards for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the Broad Prize for Public School Charters as well as on the boards of directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, 4.0 SCHOOLS and the American Board for the Certification of Teaching Excellence. A former high school social studies teacher, he has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University and Harvard University. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University as well as an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum.


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  • Email: rhess@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Lauren Aronson
    Phone: 202-862-5904
    Email: lauren.aronson@aei.org
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