My First and Only Latina Teacher: Why Teacher Diversity Matters

Katiusca Moreno, Senior Partner             Most of us remember the teachers who made a powerful difference in our lives. I remember the ones who felt like family. For me, Ms. Heyward was one of those teachers. She was my seventh grade social studies teacher who kept a small Puerto Rican […]

Do Black Lives Matter in Education Reform?

By Natalie Wilson, Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund I have spent the past five years searching for a public school that I am not certain exists. I am a single mom to a lively, brilliant, rising fifth grader, Gabrielle, who embodies the phrase #BlackGirlMagic. Over the last five years, we’ve moved from Chicago to Philadelphia to […]

Eight Reasons I’m Hopeful for Racial Justice and Equity

By Antonio Tapia, Senior Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund Image via KPFA My daughter, Samira, and hundreds of other young people were protesting the death of George Floyd at Oakland Technical High School some weeks ago. Despite the risk of contracting COVID-19, she ultimately decided that she needed to have her presence felt, and her […]

Our Moral Imperative: Racial Equity and the Public School System

Educators are preparing for a fall as their school communities — and the rest of the world — grapple with the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic anti-Black racial injustice. As a national nonprofit that supports and invests in promising teams of educators and innovators who want to reimagine learning, NewSchools is well-situated to help educators cope with the onrushing wave of change.