Grants Awarded to Newark Charter Schools Made Possible by Support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
[Newark, New Jersey] December 6, 2024 – The New Jersey Children’s Foundation (NJCF), a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase academic achievement for all Newark students, launched a $1 million grant program that will help seven Newark charter schools improve the quality of programs and education they provide to students with disabilities. The grant program was made possible by the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Charter schools were created to be incubators of innovative teaching techniques that then get shared with other schools,” said NJCF Chief Executive Officer Barbara Martinez. “Newark charter schools will be able to implement an evidence-based program design that we believe will lead to increased achievement for our students with disabilities thanks to this Gates Foundation grant.”
Participating charter schools received grants of up to $100,000 to join the IGNITE Network, a national initiative led by Marshall CoLab in collaboration with evaluation partner Mathematica.
IGNITE schools receive coaching and support to implement one or more Research-to-Impact Practices (R2I Practices) spanning literacy, multi-tiered systems of support, and collaborative teaching and teaming structures. All of these practices have been shown to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, especially Black and Latino students with disabilities who are experiencing poverty.
The $1 million Gates Foundation grant announcement for charter school special education programs follows an announcement in July by NJCF opening nearly $1 million in grants to all Newark schools- both district and charter schools–for special education and multilingual learner programs. That grant program is still open and brings NJCF’s total investments in special education or multilingual learner programs in Newark public schools to nearly $2 million.
“We’re showing our commitment to Newark’s school leaders, no matter what type of school you lead,” Martinez said. “We are eager to hear from principals and other education leaders about what will have a material impact within their schools if given these funds directly. We have been delighted to receive a multitude of ideas from Newark educators for innovative programs and projects that will help students with disabilities and those learning English succeed.”
In the program, the schools are currently being trained on these R2I Practices, which have been proven to lead to positive outcomes for students with disabilities through a three-year design process in 10 public charter networks across the country. As a result of the design process 5 best practices were planned, identified, tested and documented to make dramatic gains for Black and Latino students with disabilities experiencing poverty.
The practice that Newark charter schools in the program will be implementing is “routine data cycles.” This system leverages the regular analysis of student data to proactively design classroom-based interventions, typically using a customized data dashboard.
“Time and again, we’ve seen educators use data to arrive at a powerful result,” Martinez said. “We’re making an educated bet that implementing these particular practices with fidelity will have a huge impact on academic achievement for students with disabilities at the schools participating in this grant program,” Martinez said.
The effort underscores NJCF’s belief that all Newark students can achieve academically when educators are well trained and able to offer instruction derived from proven techniques.
The National Center on Educational Outcomes has determined that 85% to 90% of students with disabilities can achieve at grade-level with the right support. Yet only 50% of general education teachers feel strongly that students with disabilities can achieve at grade level, according to a survey by the National Center for Learning Disabilities and Understood.org.
“We aim to show Newark schools as a beacon for not only what’s possible for students with disabilities, but what is absolutely necessary for schools to do in order to fully support all learners,” Martinez said. “I’m really proud that Newark charter schools were chosen to be among this national initiative that we believe will result in gains for students as well as new and powerful techniques for teachers who have dedicated their professions to serving all learners.”
After a competitive process, NJCF awarded grants to the following Newark charter schools:
- Marion P Thomas Charter High School
- Philip’s Academy Charter School
- GOLCS Legacy Middle School
- GOLCS Heights Middle School
- GOLCS Downtown Middle School
- KIPP NJ Newark Lab High School
- KIPP NJ Newark Collegiate Academy
Nearly 50 educators from these schools have already started the work and met for the initial training last month in Newark. Teachers from across subject areas are participating and have started to receive coaching and collecting implementation data. The project will run for two years and all of the progress and data will be monitored by Mathematica, a research and data analytics consultancy in order to capture and disseminate the results of the projects occurring simultaneously nationwide.
About The New Jersey Children’s Foundation:
The New Jersey Children’s Foundation is a non-profit organization aimed at promoting a fact-based discussion about public education in New Jersey. Our mission is to invest in people, programs, and partnerships that will improve public education systems by putting the interests of children first. Our vision is that every child will break down the walls of inequity through the creation of high-quality public education systems. Our theory of change is that when communities are armed with accurate information about public education and given the tools to act, cities will demand great schools for every student.
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