The Ford Foundation has pledged $100 million Wednesday to “transform” urban high schools in the United States, focusing on seven cities: Los Angeles, New York, Newark, N.J., Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Denver, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The seven-year initiative is among the largest philanthropic efforts aimed at improving education in the United States and, as described, could both complement and challenge aspects of the Obama administration’s education reform efforts. It will fund research and reform in four areas: teacher quality, student assessment, a longer school day and year, and school funding.

The initiative is being led by Jeannie Oakes, who until recently was head of the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a strong advocate for reform aimed at helping disadvantaged students. She said the initiative dovetails with much of the administration’s education reform efforts, but would try to avoid some of the most politicized aspects.

Read more news

Filed under: K-12 Education News