Education First

The issue

Since 1967, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has engaged in dynamic and socially conscious grantmaking in its home state of California and the entire nation. The Foundation states that its ambitious goals include "helping to reduce global poverty, limiting the risk of climate change, improving education for students in California and elsewhere, improving reproductive health and rights worldwide, supporting vibrant performing arts in our community, advancing the field of philanthropy, and supporting disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area." Since 2008, Education First has supported the Hewlett Foundation on a number of fronts, including strategic planning, analyzing the effectiveness of its grant-making, and advising how the Foundation can advance and monitor its goals of improving college and career readiness for students of all backgrounds.

What we did

In March 2010, the Foundation's Board of Directors adopted a strategy of "Deeper Learning" as its focus for its education grant-making and as a strategy for college and career readiness. The Foundation defines Deeper Learning as preparing students to master core academic content; think critically and solve complex problems; work collaboratively; communicate effectively; and learn how to learn (e.g., self-directed learning). To enable these things to happen, the Foundation plans to invest in organizations that promote policies to enable schools to focus on Deeper Learning; build capacity of educators; support "proof point" schools and community colleges; and create innovative schooling models. Education First helped Hewlett create a monitoring and evaluation plan for the Deeper Learning strategy and its ultimate goal of getting 5-10 states align policies with the Deeper Learning goals. Education First also created a 50-state policy dashboard that allows Foundation staff to track policies that promote Deeper Learning, and learn which states have promising models.

Why it matters

Deeper Learning is the largest component of the education program's strategy and budget, and implementation begins in earnest in 2011 as staff begins selecting and working with key grantees and laying the foundation for successfully accomplishing its goals by 2017. The Foundation promotes an agenda of college and career readiness articulated through the Deeper Learning principles - not just more English and math content knowledge, but the application of that knowledge to prepare students for life after high school. As the Foundation stated in a letter to stakeholders, "In a world where the pace of change is measured in months rather than decades, we need to prepare our children to tackle the complex issues they will inherit in a fundamentally different way." Education First will be assisting the Foundation in researching, monitoring, evaluating and advising on the Deeper Learning strategy through 2011.