"Kappan"'s editor talks with Michigan State University's Sarah Reckhow about her research into the ways wealthy private philanthropies have influenced K-12 education in recent years. As Reckhow explains, not only have Gates, Broad, Walton, and other big foundations spent unprecedented amounts of money to support their favored reform…

Philanthropic interest in K-12 education has grown substantially in the past 10 years, with some estimates putting K-12 educational spending at 25% of all philanthropic giving. Critics have pointed to the lack of educational expertise held by philanthropists and the intrusive nature of their giving, calling them a small group of billionaires…

The latest wave of reform in urban schools, led by the venture philanthropists, has made a great deal of change, without much progress. Foundations with a venture philanthropy bent, like the Walton Family Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Broad Foundation, say market principles, such as choice and competition, will improve schools. If…

Foundations must encourage rigorous debate over objectives, strategies, and outcomes as they become more engaged in policy-focused giving. In doing this, they must make it abundantly clear that they won't blacklist critics. The value of skeptics is that they raise unpleasant issues and make it possible for those inside an organizational bubble to…

In the early 1990s, the National Science Foundation funded development of 13 comprehensive curriculum programs based on rigorous standards. Teachers, administrators, and parents should become informed about these curricula's unique characteristics and support structures to help schools adopt them. Sidebars list NSF programs and national…

The State University of New York at Albany initiated a pioneering university/philanthropist/school district partnership building on the success of millionaire Eugene Lang's 1981 offer to pay college tuition for 61 East Harlem sixth graders. SUNY's School of Education offers administrative expertise and plans enrichment activities for 96 inner-city…

The Quest Foundation, in partnership with the National Education Association, has completed a 5-year, $12 million Teacher Network Initiative that has successfully broadened technology's use in 14 states. More than 15,000 teachers received advanced training via 4,200 laptops, and excellent curricula were developed and integrated in classrooms. (MLH)

Philanthropy plays a visible but little-studied role in education reform, making it easy to both overestimate and underestimate its significance. The emergence of "new" givers in the last few years, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, has shifted the landscape of school reform. This article, based…

Concerned about maintaining schooling quality in a tight-money climate, parents and others are turning to local education foundations for needed dollars, equipment, and services. Although large philanthropic foundations have contributed significantly to public education since the 1950s, locally funded and operated education foundations have…

Because their resources are inadequate, philanthropic foundations cannot bring about educational reform by themselves. Foundations are best when serving as midwives, parking garages, conversations pits, burning glasses (to focus thought), levers, and lighthouse tenders. The American people are responsible for acting voluntarily to support public…

The San Francisco (California) Education Fund has made possible three projects: a solar greenhouse at an alternative elementary school, the All-City High School Youth Orchestra, and a high school cross-cultural peer tutoring program for Asian and Hispanic students. (Author/MLF)

The Hattiesburg (Mississippi) Area Education Foundation (HAEF), a local fund serving the community's educational interests since 1988, recently evaluated its own organizational effectiveness and identified barriers to its work (multidistrict environment, business ambivalence toward education, and white flight). HAEF encouraged five districts to…

Presents the fundamental principles of the Getty Center and surveys its activities. Premises are that study of the arts is a principal means of understanding human experience and transmitting cultural values and that arts education should include aesthetic perception, art history, and art criticism, along with creative activities. (MJL)