-
"No single issue is more important to our children's future - or our nation's future - than education, and there is no way to meet the challenge that lies before us if we don't work together to solve it."

In this edition
The Power of Partners


A Message from the Foundation
-

There is an African proverb that we return to time and again in our work: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

No single issue is more important to our children's future-or our nation's future-than education, and there is no way to meet the challenge that lies before us if we don't work together to solve it.

Every student in America should graduate from high school ready for life. Every student. No exceptions. Yet, in our schools today, 70 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in reading, and most of them will never catch up. Every year, 1.1 million young people drop out of high school. Another 1 million graduate unprepared for college or for a career.

Our grantmaking approach has long been underscored by the belief that if America is to improve educational outcomes for all young people, it will require collaboration among foundations, entrepreneurs, politicians, community leaders, and, most importantly, the educators, administrators, and students that comprise the core of our schools. Therefore, we seek to contribute to the education reform efforts already underway, catalyze supportive community change, and inform the debate around how best to achieve the goal of ensuring that all students succeed.

For example, innovative partners like early college high schools are proving that all students can succeed. These schools are drawing new, tighter connections between high school- and college-level academics, ensuring that with a high school diploma, students also get the skills they need to succeed in college.

We have learned that careful management and quality control can allow charter schools to grow beyond their initial locations into networks of schools across geographies, providing many more students with the opportunity to attend great schools that support their success. Charter management organizations like Aspire and Envision are demonstrating that success is possible at scale.

Our district partnerships in places like Austin, Portland, Chicago, and Boston have demonstrated the promise of good plans and strong leaders. In addition, each of these districts have shown significant progress due in part to sustained community-wide support for a bold vision of what education can be for our children.

State-level partners such as E3 in Oregon, the New Schools Project in North Carolina, and the Texas High School Project have developed ambitious plans to significantly increase the number of high-quality high schools. This work highlights the power of gubernatorial commitment and innovative thinking to drive change.

Our national advocacy partners such as Ed Trust and Achieve have consistently pointed a spotlight on the parts of the system that challenge us the most: graduation policies, teacher quality, and school finance. Their voice often forces important and difficult conversations among policymakers, educators, and parents.

These varied partners complement one another, supporting schools and students in different ways to reach a common goal: every young person graduating from high school prepared for college, work, and life.




-

The dream of providing a high-quality education for every student did not start with us, nor does it end with us. We work with almost 300 diverse partners across 42 states and the District of Columbia. Together, we build on past efforts, celebrating our achievements and learning from our setbacks.

Our partners have good reason to celebrate. As we look back at 2006, we are amazed at some of their accomplishments:

* Paving the Path to College: Proving students can succeed in rigorous classes, more than 95 percent of ninth graders entering early college high schools have graduated and more than 57 percent of entering students have earned an associate's degree. In addition, more than 80 percent have been accepted into a four-year college.
* Proving Schools Can Work: As just two examples of school network success stories, the Cristo Rey Network of schools saw 99 percent of its graduating class of 2006 admitted to two-year or four-year colleges, and Green Dot Schools graduated more than 95 percent of their senior class-and almost three out of four students entered four-year universities.
* Setting a Course for Success: New York City, one of many districts nationwide working to provide a high-quality education, graduated its first class from fifteen small schools. The graduation rate of 73 percent for those schools far surpasses the historical rates of 31 percent to 51 percent in the schools they replaced.
* Giving Young People a Voice: Civic Enterprises gave young high school drop outs a voice through The Silent Epidemic, a report that has drawn national attention to the drop out crisis and the policies and classroom solutions that can keep young people in school.
* Raising Our Expectations: On the policy front, 34 states have made commitments to prepare all students for college and 50 states have signed a compact to report graduation rates consistently. States are also reexamining graduation requirements. In Ohio, the governor has proposed college preparatory classes for all students, including Algebra II and lab sciences. And in Washington, the governor is working to strengthen math requirements.




Summary Thoughts
-
The challenge at hand-to create broad change in our schools-is significant. Yet as successes build upon each other, we see what we can accomplish together. As entire communities-and the entire country-engage in improving our schools, we begin to see what is possible. This sense of optimism will provide fertile ground for change to take root and be sustained for many seasons to come.




Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to reduce inequities and improve lives around the world.

© 2006, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, All Rights Reserved