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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations- Possibilities, an Update on Education

Promoting greater equity in global health, education, public libraries, and support for at-risk families in Washington state and Oregon.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm

Message from Tom Vander Ark, Executive Director, Education

I want to update you on the education work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as we continue to address together the most consequential economic, civic, and social domestic problem of our time – the failure to prepare the majority of our young people, particularly minority students, for the demands of college and work.

This spring, the foundation’s education team had an opportunity to revisit its strategy and consider our goals and objectives moving forward. As you know, since 2000 the foundation has aimed to significantly increase the number of students who graduate from high school ready for college, work, and citizenship. To that end, working closely with our partners, we have supported the creation of more than 800 new schools and the improvement of more than 700 existing schools. As of fall 2004, more than 425 of these new and transformed schools have opened.

As we worked to refine our education strategy, we incorporated valuable lessons learned over the last few years. Our overarching finding is not surprising: change is hard, but increasingly necessary. Therefore, we will continue to work toward the following 10-year goals:

* Significantly increase the high school graduation rate for all students, especially low-income, African American and Hispanic students

* Significantly increase the percentage of all students who graduate prepared for college

More specifically, our investments will be focused in four areas: school strategies, district strategies, research and evaluation, and advocacy.

We will continue to invest in new and existing high schools across the country, with a focus on quality, scale, and sustainability.

We are increasingly aware that giving all students access to better schools will require system-level change. Therefore, in addition to our school-based investments, we will work closely with districts and states to build high-performing systems and identify sensible education policies to support teachers and school leaders.

We will continue to invest in research and evaluation to better guide our efforts and those of our partner policymakers. We will learn from our successes and our failures, identifying best practices and sharing best practice tools and methodologies.

We are committed to support these efforts through our advocacy work, aimed at creating an environment enabling change: increasing awareness and understanding of the problem, developing persistent demand for reform, and promoting the creation, scale, and sustainability of good schools and systems.

Summary Thoughts

At its core, reversing our nation’s low graduation rates will rely on great schools and great teachers committed to educating all students well. But our experience has shown us that supporting the creation of these great schools is not enough. True success – systems where all students graduate ready for college and work – requires a shared mission and a combined effort on multiple levels. Federal, state and district leaders must join school administrators, teachers and parents to form large-scale communities committed to preparing all young people for graduation and for success after high school. We have learned a great deal from working with our many partners for the last five years and are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. With you, we continue to be committed to ensuring all young people – regardless of race or family income – can graduate as strong citizens prepared for college and work.

© 2004, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, All Rights Reserved

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