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One of the best means of breaking the cycle of poverty is to provide children with a high quality education. Unfortunately, the New York City public school system frequently fails the students who need that education the most - those born into poor families, in communities lacking resources and other educational options.
Thus, the Education program's overarching goal is to improve the city's public school system and to offer every child in New York City a high quality education.
Currently, the Foundation funds a variety of model schools and other systemic reform initiatives including charter schools and professional development for teachers and school leaders. We continue to examine how best to support individual charter schools and the broader charter school movement. We believe that charter schools are an excellent vehicle for public school reform.
Substantive change in a system this large and complex takes time, while daily kids struggle in inadequate public schools. Therefore as a secondary goal, the Education program supports academic enrichment programs designed to compensate for the deficiencies in schools, as well as some alternatives to the public school system. The Foundation funds a variety of academic enrichment models designed to offer intensive educational supports to students. All of these programs are offered by community-based organizations, not the public schools themselves. We do not support pure summer interventions or school-day curricular enhancements. All of the programs must document concrete outcomes showing improved academic performance. |
