Student ambassadors from Atlanta Public Schools speak during the Education Program's grantee convening. Throughout the convening, grantees shared their perspectives on what matters in their work with communities, what brings them hope, and the role that philanthropy should play in addressing threats to public education. (Credit: Jen Lowery Photography; CC BY 4.0 )
Hewlett’s Education Program is committed to ensuring that every learner has access to educational opportunities that build the critical skills, mindsets, and agency to equip them to be leaders in their communities. Yet threats to equity, diversity, and culturally affirming learning remain, and we recognize that our collective efforts are needed to protect these values, especially in public education.
Keeping in mind all of the threats and opportunities for public education today, our team has determined that 2024-25 is the right time to update our grantmaking strategies in both Open Education and K-12 Teaching and Learning. As part of Hewlett’s commitment to strategic philanthropy, each program area at the foundation reviews its grantmaking strategies every few years. These strategies guide our grantmaking priorities and decisions, so it’s vital that we use the strategy refresh process to look around and consider both what’s gone before and what we anticipate coming around the corner so that we can evolve to meet the moment. We want to ensure that we can effectively continue to support communities of learners and educators who we hope will benefit from our work.
What we heard from grantees on the future of public education
A graphic recording of a session during the Education Program’s grantee convening focused on “public education as a public good.” (Graphic by Wayfind/Erin Gordon; Photo by Jen Lowery Photography; CC BY 4.0 )
We were excited to kick off the strategy refresh process at our grantee convening this past May in Atlanta, GA. We brought together leaders from organizations around the world who are working to expand meaningful and affirming learning from pre-K to postsecondary contexts. The convening, which focused on the theme of “public education as a public good,” served as a catalyst for listening to our grantees’ perspectives about what matters in their work with communities, what brings them hope, and the role that philanthropy should play in addressing threats to public education. Here are five (of the many!) big ideas we heard from grantees:
1. Some of the most pressing issues impacting education today are: defending equity across educational institutions, sufficient funding to support student learning and well-being, and fostering student-centered learning.
2. Adequate and equitable funding at the national and global levels is needed to ensure education systems address student and educator developmental and socioemotional needs AND to prepare a diverse workforce of educators and administrators.
3. Advocacy efforts should prioritize the involvement of community-based organizations and youth/learners.
Our youth, those born here and those born outside of this country, know the importance of inclusivity and wellbeing and know that our country is already multiracial and that democracy is not something we can take for granted. Youth give me hope.
— Convening attendee
4. The commitment of educators, staff, school leaders, and learners to advocate for and lead equitable practices is a source of hope for the future of public education.
5. Philanthropy’s main role should be trusting and supporting the innovative, impactful, and equity-focused programming and practices that grantees and community members are leading.
Ideally, philanthropy would be an engaged, long-term partner in co-constructing strategies with the field partners, and using its various assets ... beyond just funding to move towards long-term solutions.
— Convening attendee
Student ambassadors from Atlanta Public Schools also reminded us to pay attention to how we care for each other and that we’re stronger when we work together in partnership. These insights from students and grantees will ground our work in refining our strategies so that public education remains a public good.
Over the next several months, we are committed to a process that engages grantees, education leaders, students, and civil rights leaders in providing input to inform our next steps. We will also examine outcomes from our work over the last five years to synthesize what has been accomplished and where we fell short of expectations. And, lastly, we will research what opportunities and challenges lie ahead. We’re grateful to bring on the support of colleagues at EduDream and Education First, who will be helping us with these activities.
We will be sure to share what we learn along the way, so be on the lookout for communications from our team as we expect this work to pick up over the next few months. Please know that you can connect with our program staff with questions or thoughts at any time along the way!
