Critical Contributions: Philanthropic Investment in Teachers and Teaching

Teacher effectiveness is widely regarded as “what matters most” in fostering improved learning and better student outcomes. Organized philanthropy recognizes this and has made strengthening instruction a priority for years. A prominent effort currently underway is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) initiative. In total, six school districts are participating in the MET initiative, and the Foundation has invested over $335 million in it. Other foundations have also made significant commitments to improving teacher effectiveness recently including the Ford, Joyce, Stuart Foundations, Carnegie Corporation and scores of other funders of all sizes and types across the nation.

Critical Contributions: Philanthropic Investment in Teachers and Teaching, prepared by a team of researchers from Kronley & Associates and the University of Georgia, examines recent foundation activity to improve instruction and offers an in-depth review of grantmaking in the 2000s. A key finding of the report was the magnitude of philanthropic investment in strengthening teacher quality—between 2000 and 2008, $684 million was directed toward teachers and teaching. Half of this funding came from a group of ten foundations. Similarly much of it—60 percent—was directed to just twenty organizations. With $213 million in identified grants, Teach for America captured more than any other organization working on matters related to teachers and teaching.

The report also traces the evolution of philanthropic activity reaching back over 150 years when individual philanthropists began establishing normal schools to ensure that would-be teachers received training and that African American children in the South had some educational opportunity, however limited. In reviewing foundation investments across decades, researchers found that issues of robust debate today—teacher recruitment, training, evaluation, retention and compensation—are not new. Foundations have repeatedly raised critical questions about how practices and policies in these areas shape teacher efficacy.

In part due to the persistence of challenges within the teaching profession, Critical Contributions also raises questions about philanthropic practice. It suggests that foundations examine their commitment of time to particular initiatives, the nature and scope of their collaborations, and their use of rigorous evaluation to assess their work.

Claire Suggs of Kronley & Associates, principal author, and Kathleen deMarrais of the University of Georgia led the report’s development. Other members of the team included Karen Watkins, Arthur Horne, Kate Swett and Robert Kronley. In addition, Jana Thompson and Grace Thornton provided many hours of research. Questions about the report should be directed to Claire Suggs at cvs@kronley.com or 404-942-3311.

Researchers relied on FoundationSearch America and The Foundation Center's Foundation Directory Online to identify relevant grants from 2000-2008. As described in the report's methodology, researchers conducted multiple keyword and subject area searches; these were supplemented by searches of select funders and grantees. The authors recognize, however, that despite these extensive searches, some foundation grants directed to teachers and teaching during this period were not captured or identified through the databases upon which the report relied. The authors regret these limitations but believe that Critical Contributions provides a representative overview of the depth and breadth of relevant foundation activity during this period.

Critical Contributions was funded by the Ford Foundation. We thank the Foundation for its generous support. The report does not reflect, however, the views or opinion of the Foundation. The findings and conclusions presented in the report are those of the authors alone.