Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook is donating $100 worth of Facebook stock into Newark, NJ schools. Though Zuckerberg is not earmarking specifically how the money be spent, instead giving the Governor, the Mayor and the appropriated boards the freedom to do what is necessary to improve the education system in the area.
This brings up two questions related to us. The first, does money make a difference? With more financial resources will the current educational system be improved by the added revenue stream? Such a large amount to a specific area can improve not only the technology and communications base but also reward better and more successful teachers.
This brings us to the second question. How will we measure this donation to see if it successful. Is it by increased standardized test scores? Is it by increased High School and College graduates? Or maybe it is by an increase in the average income of families in the area?
If you are interested in this donation here are some links to articles:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/09/23/newark-nj-schools-to-get-100m-facebook-donation/
http://dailycollegian.com/2010/09/26/facebook-founder-lends-a-hand/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/education/23newark.html
If this money was added to our area, what sort of improvements would you recommend to the school board (from a technological perspective) to insure success?
Then the big question. If it is successful, what does this do to help everyone else? What can the rest of the country and the world glean from this endeavor?
Comment on these or any in the previous paragraphs.
You bring up some interesting question about who benefits and how you would measure the benefits. The gentleman must trust those making decisions about the monies use. I'm not sure I would be that trusting. Personally if I were on the committee I would want to look at where the schools are with technology and do any upgrades that would be needed. Perhaps create a "priority" list. One of the first questions would be, how can we help the students succeed? Whether the answer is technology equipment or personnel, most school systems would not have a problem in spending any additional funds that might become available.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing those articles. I think it's very admirable how more people are focusing on donating instead of keeping their success to themselves, such as the Gates. I do think money will always make a difference, but not always in the way intended. It could cause financial stress on where to spend it, or who gets how much, etc.
ReplyDeleteVery thought provoking article and questions Curtis. Public/Private partnerships are making their way into public k12 administration - my guess is that we will see more of this and, yes, K12 admins must learn to collect and use data (something they are have, in the past, not done well) to make their case and sustain the effort.
ReplyDeleteInvesting in education proves to be an interesting cause due to the lack of immediate returns by nature. I mean, what are the returns? They're certainly not as obvious and tangible because giving money to a school system is going to help tremendously but how long until we see if it's successful? It could be immediate in some aspects but much longer in years for others.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great start and I hope to see more philanthropists contributing to education as it is needed. Dr. Kellison's comment on collecting and using the data is very true. Let's use it and build on it while collecting necessary data to help the cause.