New York City announced on Thursday a splashy $32 million effort to redesign dozens of schools with input from educators, students and families.
Teams will compete to open 20 new schools, and transform another 20, with grants backed by Laurene Powell Jobs’ XQ Initiative, the anti-poverty foundation Robin Hood, and an equal share of city money. (XQ Institute is supported by Emerson Collective, which is a funder of Chalkbeat through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.)
The new initiative promises “community-driven school innovation.” Grant winners in other parts of the country have prioritized computer science and internships, project-based learning, or catering to homeless students.
In New York City, the initiative is a drop in the bucket for a system with 1,800 schools. And details about what the city and philanthropies are looking for are vague. We’ll be following the process as it unfolds.
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