How the Gates Foundation quietly changed American education: From algebra classes to smaller schools
Although most of the billions of a year's Gates Foundation went to health projects in Africa and Asia, almost 10% goes to a unique US program of its ambitious goal: Improve public education from Kindergarten through high school, especially in cash-strapped or underved school districts-and then guide high school graduates.
With the combination of the signature of data-driven views, a focus derived from the industry industry in investment, advocacy facing public, and partnerships throughout the range of public and private creatures, the Gates Foundation has silently nudged school districts towards major tenets. These include a math focus, especially the algebra; professional development for teachers; and experimenting with reform thinking.
Since the United States program at the Gates Foundation began 25 years ago, it cooperated with more than 3,700 organizations – including school districts, colleges, nonprofit, community groups, research institutions, and businesses – nationwide. At that time, public education in the United States has improved many important steps: most noticing -note, the high school end rate rose from 71% in 2001 to 87% in 2022, the latest available data. The foundation cannot take all credit for that improvement, says Allan Golston, who runs the US Foundation's US Foundation program, but “we have definitely contributed there, and it is very proud of it.”
The first problem of the program reflects on what is confined to tropical-dissease fighters in international foundation operation: Lousy Data. Most high schools specify their end rate as a percentage of 12th-Graders graduated, ignoring all those who have fallen in the past three years. With the help of the National Governors Association, all states are now using the comprehensive definition of the end rate foundation, which of course produces lower numbers. Only that change was surprised by the officers and parents of the demanding action, but it was just the beginning.
Equipped with better data, the foundation has identified about 2,000 “dropout factories” nationwide, most urban centers – schools with terrible end rates. They tend to be large schools, so the foundation argues that smaller schools with more individual support and more engagement between students and teachers will produce better results.
The model worked, up to a point. In some of the big cities where it was tested, more and more students graduated, went to college, and received degrees in bachelor. But in other cities, improvements are moderate.
Unfortunately, the model is also not practical as a nationwide template. For starters, destroying a big high school is not easy. “There are 15,000 school districts in the US,” Golston said. “Everyone has different contexts, different boards, different views, different insights on how to teach and what to teach.” The model is also expensive. New York City has maintained many of these small high schools, and hundreds of high schools elsewhere have been successfully adopted by the model, but they are a small proportion of 24,000 American public high schools. Bottom line, small schools are great, but in the real world not a wide answer based.
Now the foundation is dedicated to factors that any school, regardless of size, can benefit from – expected curriculum, professional development of teachers, teaching. Research revealed the important importance of a course: Algebra. “This is a critical factor of success in the end and there are many other unpredictable factors,” Golston said. Students who pass Algebra 1 in the ninth grade are twice as likely to graduate from high school, are more likely to enroll and complete college, and are better positioned for careers that need evaluation skills. “It is very important in a student's trajectory,” he said, “that if you can move that measure, you can unlock a lot of development and success.”
Many jobs each year require Postecondary education, which means focusing on high school ending is not enough. The Foundation wants students to get good jobs, so it will help them get a Postecondary credentials with value-even if it doesn't always mean a four-year college degree. It can be a two-year course, or some type of certificate, but research shows that momentum is critical: the student should be perfectly enrolled immediately after high school.
The Foundation's US program continues to experiment, which by its nature proves some hypotheses and does not accept others. “You see developing some parts, and giving you some hope,” Golston said. “It also gives you a sense of determination, because we can't relax until the pockets of success for students are not pockets.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
