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You
are here: What is the Gates Foundation Doing in Education?
An Interview with Kenneth Jones
New Horizons for Learning has been watching with great interest as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation makes progress in its commitment to helping all students achieve. In pursuing this goal, the foundation has been facilitating the development of small, focused high schools throughout the country and helping large, impersonal schools transform into smaller, more personalized learning communities.
We spoke with Kenneth W. Jones, Program Officer in charge of the K-12 school program. He explained, "We want to change the way America views public education. We want to demonstrate what works for all students. How will we know we are successful? Well, ultimately, we will see more students (especially poor students and students of color) completing high school prepared for college, work, and life. Evaluation is a very important part of our work. We well be observing classrooms, looking at student work, monitoring students' scores on required tests, and evaluating how well districts support the efforts of school trying to transform."
He handed us a little booklet called Making the Case for Small Schools which points out that one of the main problems in public education is the large size of today's high schools with enrollments of two or three or four thousand students. Jones noted, "In some large, urban centers, when they talk about school change, no one mentions students. Education should be personalized. It 's about people. We want to see education working better than corporations. Education should be leading in the development of knowledge and practices, then consulting with corporations; not the other way around."
The booklet contains the following statistics from Small Schools: Great Strides: A study of new small schools in Chicago, by lead author, Pat Wasley, now Dean of the University of Washington's College of Education. (Click here to see Wasley's article on small schools.) "Average achievement is higher in small high schools. More students from small high schools pass core classes and go on to college. Effects are greatest for low-income and minority students." The booklet also underscores the fact that small schools are safer, students are more motivated, there is greater equity in students' achievement, and greater professional growth for teachers.
Jones noted that the growing body of information supporting smaller schools is the reason that the Foundation has a goal of starting 300 small high schools. At the present time, the foundation is working with 10 public school districts as well as Catholic schools in Washington, 6 districts in Alaska, 2 districts in Rhode Island, and the San Diego Unified School District. They also have more than a dozen other school projects that provide support and technical assistance to school districts in urban areas throughout the country. Their School Grant Program in Washington state has awarded grants to 54 schools, 16 of which are High Achievement High Schools in low socioeconomic areas.
In addition, the foundation is committed to removing the financial barriers to higher education that prevent many students from obtaining an advanced degree. The Washington State Achievers Scholarship program, Gates Millennium Scholars Program and the Gates Cambridge Scholars Program aim to provide low-income and minority students with the financial support necessary to pursue higher education.
Every principal and superintendent in the country will have access to quality leadership and technology training through the three-year $100 million Leadership Development Program, and the Teacher Leadership Project has reached 2,400 teachers and will be reaching another 1,000 in the coming year.
Another of the Foundation's booklets, Helping All Students Achieve, outlines the Attributes of High Achievement Schools as follows:
Common Focus: Staff and students are focused on a few important goals. The school has adopted a consistent research-based instructional approach based on shared beliefs about teaching and learning. The use of time, tools, materials, and professional development activities are aligned with instruction.
High Expectations: Staff members are dedicated to helping students achieve state and local standards; students are engaged in an ambitious and rigorous course of study; and students leave school prepared for success in work, further education, and citizenship.
Personalized: The school is designed to promote sustained student relationships with adults where every student has an adult advocate and a personal plan for progress. Schools are small. No more than 600 students (less than 400 strongly recommended.)
Respect and Responsibility: The environment is authoritative, safe, ethical, and studious. The staff teaches, models, and expects responsible behavior and relationships are based on mutual respect.
Time to Collaborate: Staff has time to collaborate and develop skills and plans to meet the needs of all students. Parents are recognized as partners in education. Partnerships are developed with businesses to create work-based opportunities and with institutions of higher education to improve teacher preparation and induction.
Performance Based: Students are promoted to the next instructional level only when they have achieved competency. Students receive additional time and assistance when needed to achieve this competency.
Technology as a Tool: Teachers design engaging and imaginative curriculum linked to learning standards, analyze results, and have easy access to best practices and learning opportunities. Schools publish their progress to parents and engage the community in dialog about continuous improvement.
In relation to school districts, the booklet lists the following attributes: Distributed leadership, high expectations and performance accountability, effective governance, shared values, learning partnerships with business and community organizations, ongoing staff development, and technology infrastructure that allows all staff and students access to technology and support.
And, drawing from the seminal book, How People Learn, (Click here to see a review of this book) the foundation's booklet lists three essential components of powerful teaching and learning that are the foundations of their grant program:
Active Inquiry: Students are engaged in active participation, exploration, and research; activities draw out perceptions and develop understanding; students are encouraged to make decision about their learning; and teachers utilize the diverse experiences of students to build effective learning experiences.
In-depth Learning: The focus is competence, not coverage. Students struggle with complex problems, explore core concepts to develop deep understanding, and apply knowledge in real world contexts.
Performance Assessment: Clear expectations define what students should know and be able to do; students produce quality work products and present to real audiences; student work shows evidence of understanding, not just recall; assessment tasks allow students to exhibit higher-order thinking; and teachers and students set learning goals and monitor progress.
Kenneth Jones closed our interview with his hopes for what the Foundation can accomplish in the future." We all know that our large comprehensive high schools are failing most of our students, especially low-income students and students of color. We want to significantly increase the number of students who are able to succeed in and contribute to our society. This is the most important work any of us could be doing right now. I am blessed to be a part of it."
Kenneth Jones is an Organizational Psychologist and is currently Program Officer for School and District Grants with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Principal in Kenneth Jones Associates, an organization development consulting firm. Previously he was the Organization Development Specialist for the Washington Education Association, Vice President and Director of OD with the Michigan National Bank Corporation, on the Psychology faculty at the University of Michigan, and has been an elementary math and science teacher.
Copyright © April 2002 New Horizons for Learning, all rights reserved.
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