Best Practices

THE BROAD PRIZE FOR URBAN EDUCATION
www.broadprize.org
The Broad Prize for Urban Education is an annual $2 million award created to honor urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between non-low- and low-income students. The 2008 Broad Prize winner, Brownsville Independent School District on the Texas-Mexico border (www.bisd.us), was announced on Oct. 14 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The 2008 Broad Prize finalists were Aldine Independent School District, near Houston (www.aldine.k12.tx.us); Broward County Public Schools, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (www.browardschools.com); Long Beach Unified School District in California (www.lbusd.k12.ca.us); and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (www.dadeschools.net). Each year, the winning and finalist districts’ best instruction and management practices are showcased nationwide. 

The Broad Prize for Urban Education provides $1 million in college scholarships to graduating high school seniors in the winning district, as well as $250,000 in scholarships to students in each of the four finalist districts. Scholarships of $20,000 are awarded to students who enroll in four-year institutions, paid out over four years ($5,000 per year), and $5,000 scholarships are awarded to students who enroll in two-year institutions, paid out over two years ($2,500 per year). 

The 2009 Broad Prize winner will be announced on Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C. 

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
www.americanprogress.org
The Broad Foundation supports the education program of the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and actions. With support from The Broad Foundation, the Center for American Progress is producing papers and policy briefs on topics ranging from expanded learning time, differential pay for principals and teachers, comparability in Title I funding, and national education standards.

CENTER ON REINVENTING PUBLIC EDUCATION
www.crpe.org
Researchers at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), part of the University of Washington’s Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, have developed tools for comparing spending across schools. The Broad Foundation is funding these researchers to further propose how to use these tools to investigate expenditures for centrally managed programs. Working closely with school districts, the CRPE will carefully examine central office spending to determine actual per–unit cost of services provided by central office programs and to analyze how those dollars are being spent in schools and on students. The results of this project will be published in spring 2009.

EDUCATION WEEK
http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/nation-at-risk-25-years/index.html
The Broad Foundation is proud to sponsor a 2008-2009 series in Education Week reporting on the state of American education a quarter century after the release of the landmark education policy report, “A Nation at Risk.”  Education Week explores the complex realities of the current education landscape given today’s global economy and takes a look at where American public education is headed.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY EDUCATION INNOVATION LABORATORY
www.edlabs.harvard.edu
The Broad Foundation supports the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University (“EdLabs”). In a groundbreaking effort led by Harvard University professor Roland Fryer (who, at age 30, was the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard), EdLabs applies the R&D model to public education reform to unearth the causes of performance gaps and effectively vet options for reform. With a theory of change rooted in the scientific method, EdLabs operates with the belief that most public education reform is missing not only in-depth empirical research to understand problems and challenges, but also research-driven solutions to determine what works, and then to effectively replicate what works and disseminate results.  

HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
The Broad Foundation supports efforts to bring first-rate opportunities in arts education to Los Angeles students through a world-class high school for the visual and performing arts. The foundation’s investment supports “Discovering the Arts,” a board of community leaders that has partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to create and support the arts high school, Central High School #9 in downtown Los Angeles. Discovering the Arts believes that by drawing on the experience, networks, creativity and energy of the board’s artists and community leaders, the arts high school will become not only a vital neighborhood and citywide resource but also a preeminent public arts school in the country. The Broad Foundation’s investment supports Discovering the Arts’ efforts to help the district hire an executive director, assist with construction costs and supplement the school’s operational budget.

THE HUNT INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY
www.hunt-institute.org
The Broad Foundation co-sponsors the Hunt Institute’s invitation-only Governors Education Symposia. During the symposia, governors participate in sessions with leading education, policy and business experts and discuss a wide range of education reform efforts.

INSTITUTE FOR A COMPETITIVE WORKFORCE
www.uschamber.com/icw/
In February 2007, the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for American Progress jointly released “Leaders and Laggards, A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness.” The overwhelming response to the report led The Broad Foundation to form a partnership with the ICW to fund a “road show” of half-day events to showcase the report’s findings.

LA’S BEST AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS
www.lasbest.org
The nationally acclaimed Los Angeles-based after-school program LA’s BEST (Los Angeles’ Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) provides academic and social enrichment activities for elementary students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Over the past several years, The Broad Foundation has actively supported this exceptional program, making investments in the organization’s expansion, operations and after-school arts activities.

NATIONAL CENTER ON TIME & LEARNING
www.timeandlearning.org
Massachusetts 2020 is a statewide organization devoted to redesigning the conventional public school day to incorporate additional time for core academics, enrichment and professional development for teachers. With support from The Broad Foundation, Massachusetts 2020 expanded its focus to launch the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), which promotes expanded learning time in a national context. After pioneering the first state policy to support conversion to expanded learning time, the NCTL has spent the last year growing federal—as well as state and urban school district—interest in expanded learning time. Through a combination of high-level research and policy and ground-level technical assistance to schools, the NCTL is creating a new, more effective school day that expands learning opportunities for all students and prepares them for success in the 21st century global economy.

NEW YORK CITY STUDENT INCENTIVES
http://schools.nyc.gov/default.aspx
www.nber.org
The Broad Foundation supports an incentives program through the National Bureau of Economic Research for fourth and seventh graders in approximately 40 New York City Department of Education schools. This initiative offers a new strategy for engaging students and fostering academic achievement through financial incentives. In addition to funding the incentives themselves, the grant will provide funds to perform critical research on the effectiveness of student incentives in closing achievement gaps in urban school systems like New York City.

THE THOMAS B. FORDHAM INSTITUTE
www.edexcellence.net/institute
The Broad Foundation is supporting a study that chronicles the experiences of seven countries with national education standards. This study will explore how these systems were built and identify lessons for the United States regarding the design and politics of implementing national education standards and the associated assessments. The results from this work will be published in mid-2009.