Feb 4Our Promise and Plan of Action for the Year AheadFrances Messano, President, NewSchools Venture Fund This is a tough time to be in education. For teachers and school leaders navigating a third wave of the pandemic and fighting to deliver an excellent education, there are no “time outs.” Education philanthropy has a shared responsibility to support educators who are…Education3 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Apr 14, 2021What We’ve Learned by Investing $52 Million in Black and Latino InnovatorsStacey Childress, CEO, NewSchools Venture Fund At NewSchools, we believe the genius to create a more effective and equitable education system already exists in our communities, and that innovators must have the support they need to nurture and grow their ideas for impact. Recently we announced Frances Messano’s promotion to…5 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Mar 4, 2021One Year In: Innovative Approaches to Learning During a Pandemicby Miho Kubagawa, Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund This time last year, I was visiting Ednovate’s public high schools in Los Angeles with school leaders from NewSchools’ innovative schools portfolio. Each of these leaders were designing and launching new, innovative public schools like Ednovate. Little did we know that these school…Covid 195 min read
Dec 7, 2020Our Ventures’ Impact in 2020by NewSchools Venture Fund staff 2020 has been a year of challenge and change. Routines have been upended, we’ve faced an ongoing public health crisis, confronted systemic racial injustice across our communities and survived a grueling political season that resulted in a historic election. Throughout all of this there have…3 min read
Dec 1, 2020Supporting Organizations Right in Our Hometownby Nathan Shiferaw, Analyst, NewSchools Venture Fund Oakland, California. It’s where we live, work, and play. But most importantly, it’s NewSchools’ homebase and we love it. If this is the first time you’ve heard about us, allow me to introduce our organization to you! We are a venture philanthropy that…Education2 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Nov 16, 2020The Immediate Benefit of Rapid Cash Disbursements for Oakland FamiliesBy Raffy Maristela, Analyst, NewSchools Venture Fund As the global pandemic shut down schools in March 2020, families faced one of the most daunting times of their lives. While education innovation was still a priority for us at NewSchools Venture Fund, it was clear that there were more immediate needs…Oakland3 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Nov 11, 2020School Districts Need Chief Innovation Officers Now More Than EverNew Report: The Chief Innovation Officer Toolkit — By Miho Kubagawa, Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund In the early 1980s, as enterprise computing became a more sophisticated, complex function, a new corporate leadership role emerged: the chief information officer. In 1986, Businessweek magazine ran the headline “Management’s Newest Star: Meet the Chief Information Officer.” …Innovation3 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Oct 21, 2020Has Covid Changed Which Digital Learning Tools Teachers Use Most Often?By Justin Wedell, Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund Earlier this year, we released an analysis of the tools teachers said they were using most often in our 2019 survey with Gallup on “Education Technology Use in Schools.” In that analysis, we found that most teachers were using different digital learning…Edtech4 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Oct 19, 2020New Research: More Principals of Color May Be the Key to Diversifying the Teacher WorkforceBy Erin Harless, Manager of Research and Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund One of the biggest talent challenges facing the education sector today is the demographic mismatch between the students attending PK-12 public schools and the teachers and leaders who serve them. Today’s students are the most diverse in the history…Schools6 min read
Published in NewSchools Venture Fund·Oct 13, 2020Student Assessments Aren’t Delivering on Their Promise for Accountability or EquityNow is the Time to Reevaluate our Student Assessment Policies — By Erin Harless, Manager of Research and Learning, NewSchools Venture Fund The education sector is in the midst of an overdue reckoning about its role in perpetuating systemic racism in this country, from curricula that perpetuates a Eurocentric worldview to an educator workforce that does not reflect the student population…Schools9 min read
