The Detroit Children’s Fund today announced its plan to impact Detroit schools to create a quality education for every child who lives in the city. Through data driven decision-making, Detroit Children’s Fund says it is identifying key areas in the city’s educational landscape where investments will create substantial change.
The areas include talent, schools, and projects that enable conditions necessary for children to thrive in Detroit schools.
“Every child deserves a quality education, and we believe that it is our duty to help ensure that every school in Detroit can deliver on that promise,” says Jack Elsey, executive director of the Detroit Children’s Fund.
“Through the right investments in targeted areas, strong partnerships, and the patience it takes to see results, Detroit Children’s Fund will help Detroit’s schools become the envy of the nation in one generation. That means that we can make Detroit the best choice for raising your children.”
The Detroit Children’s Fund’s plan will fill the critical gap in school improvement efforts by providing long-term, meaningful capital investments designed to achieve the greatest widespread improvement of Detroit’s non-profit district and charter schools.
Today, only one in 10 children in Detroit are receiving a quality education. Detroit Children’s Fund is committed to eliminating educational deserts in the city, and has already begun targeted investments into high-performing schools, increasing their capacity, as well as investing in teachers and leaders to elevate student performance.
The organization is also funding the first-ever standardized quality rating system for all schools in the city of Detroit to help guide parents and school leadership on where their school stands. Having a singular standardized rating will provide a baseline for all schools in the city.
Detroit Children’s Fund will invest in three focus areas, including:
Talent: Training and developing a pipeline of quality teachers, principals, and
school leadership. This includes cornerstone training and recruiting programs including Teach 313, Leaders Institute, and Team Fellows.
Schools: Growing and developing high-performing schools throughout the city. This includes investments in New Paradigm for Education (NPFE), the highest-performing charter school network in Detroit, which has fueled positive outcomes for their staff retention efforts and student achievement.
In addition, Detroit Children’s Fund is working to bring new schools, both district and charter, to the city to provide Detroit children with more quality options for education.
Finally, the organization will soon launch the School Collaboration Collective. The program will select four schools in the city that are showing promise to receive full, long-term support of Detroit Children’s Fund to help improve student outcomes.
Enabling Conditions: Benchmarking and reporting to ensure that the fund’s investments thrive, including the creation of the first-ever standardized quality rating system for all schools across the city of Detroit.
The Detroit Children’s Fund is a non-profit organization that makes high-potential investments to expand successful schools, greatly improve lower performing schools, and discover and develop talented educators so that every child in Detroit has the opportunity to receive an excellent education. To learn more about Detroit Children’s Fund, visit www.DetroitChildrensFund.org.
