Transforming Secondary Education
Overview
The goal of this work is to improve the quality of secondary schools so that marginalized young people have equitable educational opportunities and outcomes.
The Challenge
In today's global economy, young people who fail to get high-quality secondary education face increasingly dim prospects. Millions of students from marginalized groups are essentially barred from economic, social and political opportunity because their schools do not serve them adequately.
What We're Doing
Our work seeks to dispel two myths:
- High-quality schooling is a scarce commodity
- Educational inequalities are inevitable and intractable
In the United States, we work with national, state and local partners to supplant these myths with durable evidence and powerful examples of equitable, high-quality schooling for all students.
We also support parents, community groups, educators and others in impoverished urban neighborhoods who are seeking to use evidence and examples to adopt policies and practices that provide four basic elements of school infrastructure:
- Expanded and redesigned learning time
- High-quality teaching
- Sufficient and equitable school financing
- Strong accountability
These four elements have a decisive impact on the quality of education offered to the nation's most vulnerable student populations.
The U.S. initiative focuses on public schooling in New York City, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Denver.
Learn more about how our strategies and approaches shape our grant making.
From the Newsroom
- Ford Foundation Grantees Win Innovation Awards from Education Dept Eight Ford grantees named Investing in Innovation Fund winnners for work in secondary education
- Ambitious New School Zone for Newark, N.J. Local educators and parents consider Global Village School Zone 'the most ambitious reform to be tried here in decades'
- New Documentary Examines America's Public School System Huffington Post review of the film cites Ford Foundation president on the importance of quality education
From the Library
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Strategies for Improving Public EducationGrant maker reflects on Constituency Building for Public School Reform, a 13-year initiative to build coalitions and mobilize needed changes in the U.S. public school system.
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Regions
Team
What We're Following
- More Time for Learning Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time initiative's progress report on school reform efforts and the impact nationwide 3 MB
- Pursuing Educational Equity Through the State Court Recent book analyzes the role of state courts and the executive and legislative branches in achieving equality in schools
- MSNBC's Morning Joe Video of New York City Mayor and other public officials on city's education reform efforts
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