MacKenzie Scott Makes Historic $10 Million Gift to Leading Educators

Today, we are proud to announce that we have accepted a $10 million donation from author MacKenzie Scott, the most significant investment toward our mission ever.

This support offers important backing for our rallying belief: every child in this country deserves excellent and equitable teaching. It also says that it’s possible and worthwhile to disrupt the status quo when we know better – especially when we have a plan for putting the pieces back together.

Making Equity actionable

We will use this donation to dramatically accelerate equitable outcomes across school systems, using innovative new models and expanding upon proven methods to double the number of students we reach. The donation will allow us to help school districts grow their talent and address changing student needs at a time when many districts face staffing challenges and a steep climb for learning recovery. 

We are determined to succeed because we’ve felt first-hand the ways in which school can limit potential rather than liberate it. We’re an organization of people who got into this work because we’ve been told what we can’t do and can’t be too many times, and we’re determined to build something better alongside educators and families who know what their students need.

building on strengths

Over the past decade, we have partnered with the fastest-improving school systems in the country to uncover solutions that turn the tide, so all students and families can count on real opportunity and real results instead of chance. We’ve built a network of thousands of teachers, principals, and instructional leaders across the country who are showing the world that it’s possible to make equity a daily practice, not just an aspiration. And we’re just getting started.

prioritizing people

We know that it’s possible to ignite potential when we support educators to be the champions our students deserve. Many school reforms have focused on high-stakes accountability to get results rather than what makes the teaching profession sustainable and successful. That model has not raised student results, but it has increased mistrust and attrition. Instead, we build lasting capacity for teachers to learn, and it’s working.

• In Louisiana, partner charter schools evaluated with the RAND Corporation showed academic gains in math of 12 percentile points in one academic year, gains equivalent to closing one-third of the opportunity gap between black and white students.
• Alongside D.C. Public Schools, we developed and scaled the ground-breaking LEAP professional learning strategy across 116 schools in 3 years. College readiness in English language arts and math increased by 15 percent and 11.5 percent respectively in the first four years of implementation.
• In a soon-to-be-released study with EdPolicyForward, we found that schools that partnered over two years accelerated math learning and increased the number of college-ready students by 14 percent.

With this catalytic support from MacKenzie Scott, we’re ready to make just and fair education the new normal in this next decade. Let’s get there together.

Share your vision

We know you have big dreams for where education can go next. Let us know why education equity matters to you and where you hope the education sector focuses by recording a short video with this tool.