Release of : An Appeal to All Americans - The National Commission on Civic Investment in Public Education
Event Details
A landmark report by the National Commission on Civic Investment in PublicEducation calls upon the nation to strengthen its commitment to public schools and ensure that it provides a high-quality education for all young people. An Appeal to All Americans calls with new urgency for an increase in the nation’s civic investment in public elementary and secondary education and creates standards and guidelines for the fast-growing field of public education assistance organizations that provide a means for this kind of civic investment. Education funds, a key type of public education assistance organization, inAlabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Washington are cited in the report as case study examples of representing good practices among such groups.
For more than 25 years, nonprofit community-based public education assistance organizations have provided billions of dollars in private funds to support local school projects and implement systemic school reform strategies in districts. As states and local communities face extreme budget cuts, or seek innovations to improve the quality of their local schools, these public education assistance organizations are playing a greater role.
To support their growth and impact, the National Commission on Civic Investment in Public Education, co-chaired by former Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, makes an unprecedented call upon these organizations to adopt operating standards that are consistent with the highest levels of nonprofit practices and accountability to the public.
The framework provided in the report demonstrates how these groups can operate in both a transparent and ethical manner, and describes what school districts, prospective donors, and the public can expect from these organizations.
The National Commission was created by Public Education Network (PEN) and charged with making the renewed case for civic investment, highlighting the work of organizations that can build and channel that investment, and developing standards for these organizations. The standards are designed for adoption by these groups so they can demonstrate their effectiveness and hold themselves accountable within their communities. A PEN-commissioned study by the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute, “Who Helps Public Schools?,” will also be released at the event. The Commission used the study’s look at public education assistance organizations to inform its findings.
WHO: Honorable Richard W. Riley, former U.S. Secretary of Education, and co-chair, the National Commission on Civic Investment in Public Education
Wendy D. Puriefoy, President, Public Education Network
Warren Simmons, Executive Director, Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Elizabeth T. Boris, Ph.D., Director, Center on Nonprofits and PhilanthropyThe Urban Institute
Virginia B. Edwards, President, Editorial Projects in Education and Editor, Education Week
WHEN: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Eastern
WHERE: The Pew Charitable Trusts, Americas Room (2nd floor)
901 E St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
