Gates Foundation invests big in education

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced today that it will invest a total of $335 million in promoting effective teaching and raising student achievement in four communities across the United States. Though Washington state schooles were not among the list of grantees, foundation co-chair Melinda French Gates says she hopes the four communities chosen will serve as a model for the rest of the country. The foundation hopes that with the success of these particular educational institutions, other states will follow in overturning certain policies, ultimately improving the U.S. educational system on the whole.

“Education is a tough issue,” Gates said in a conference call. “It may be the toughest issue we take on. There’s no easy solution here on what to do. But our research and work in education has convinced us that teachers matter more than any other factor to student achievement.”

The foundation awarded $290 million Intensive Partnership for Effective Teaching grants to support the four sites chosen. The grants will support, encourage and enhance effective teaching plans. The four sites, which the Gates Foundation will closely monitor over the next five to seven years, are: Hillsborough County, Fla.; Public Schools, Memphis; City Schools, Pittsburgh; and The College-Ready Promise, a coalition comprise of five public charter school management organizations in Los Angeles.

“This is one of our largest domestic investments,” Gates said. “It comes with great hopes and great expectations for students in this country.”

The Gates Foundation allowed anyone to participate in the grant application process, but there were several criteria used to determine the finalists. Size played a role, as the foundation did not want to overwhelm a school too large or too small, said John Deasy, the Gates Foundation’s deputy director of education. It also looked at the number of youth who face challenging circumstances on a daily basis, including living in poverty. It assessed high-need districts and districts that have worked on plans for effectiveness in the past. Community support also factored into the decision-making process. The Foundation’s director of education, Vicki Phillips, said to be considered, the schools needed to have the support of the local school boards, the administration, the superintendent’s office, local unions or teacher voice in non-unionized region and even potentially the city’s mayor and governor.

Another $45 million will go toward the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, a research-based initiative that will study what makes teachers effective and how such effectiveness can be measured. The MET project will observe 3,700 teachers from school districts around the country, using videotaped classroom lessons, student surveys, teacher surveys and supplemental student assessments to gather data. Gates said that a huge flaw in the educational system is that teachers often feel that they are not properly evaluated. Teachers in the following school districts will participate: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.; Denver; Hillsborough County, Fla.; Memphis; New York City; and Pittsburgh. As grants are approved, more cities may be added.

These sites have the potential to start new trends in the education system and change the current model, Deasy noted. “Unlike many local reforms, this is able to have far-reaching effects. They [these sites] represent the wide diversity that is our American youth.”

Gates emphasized the importance of a high school degree today and her staff argued that many times, making it into college isn’t even the point; students must be ready for college and determined to work hard in order to be successful. She feels confident that the regions chosen share a common goal of supporting student achievement. All of the four areas will work from the ground up to spearhead innovative policies in the classroom.

“Each of these sites will implement groundbreaking plans,” Gates said. “We are very pleased with all proposals we received, but these four communities have an extraordinary and unique commitment to understand that students should have access to effective teachers.”