A Five-Year Retrospective (2021⁠-⁠25)

The journey was not without challenges. Persistently low test scores, rising chronic absenteeism, funding cliffs, grantee leadership transitions, and a constantly shifting education landscape created real headwinds. Yet despite these speedbumps, our impact and influence during this chapter are clear. We met—or exceeded—the majority of our internal goals, transforming not only how we work as a foundation, but also the trajectories of many of our grantee partners and their work in the field.

This progress was accomplished in close partnership with the education sector, alongside other funders, and most importantly, with our grantees, whose insight, dedication, and willingness to learn alongside us continue to shape and inspire our thinking.

Since 2021, we’ve disbursed $288.5 million to 206 education organizations nationwide.

During this period, our payout grew by 57 percent, with increased focus on supporting early- and growth-stage organizations. Our average grant duration increased by 33 percent, providing greater stability and transparency for grantees, and general operating support grew to 70 percent of our total giving, aligned with the best practices of trust-based philanthropy.

Grantees told us these shifts mattered. According to surveys conducted by the Center for Effective Philanthropy between 2021 and 2025, satisfaction with the clarity of our strategies increased from the 36th to the 82nd percentile. Reported impact on grantee organizations rose from the 22nd to the 56th percentile, the straightforwardness of our reporting process improved from the 10th to the 70th percentile, and comfort approaching our team when challenges arise increased from the 45th to the 93rd percentile.

Taken together, our funding over the last five years accelerated innovation, strengthened evidence in the education sector, and supported more organizations on a path to sustainability. At a high level, our grantmaking resulted in:

• 138 prototypes generated, increasing the pace of innovation across the sector;
• 138 validation and research studies completed, expanding access to high-quality and actionable education research;
• 23 cost-effective and sustainable models scaled, resulting in more students accessing evidence-based supports and interventions; and
• More than $350 million in additional public and private funding attracted by grantees with our support.

Beyond the numbers, the past five years reflect meaningful impact on both our grantees and the field. Since 2021, our work has:

• Strengthened organizational capacity, with 12 grantees improving innovation-related capacities, 35 strengthening evidence-related capacities, and 34 enhancing growth-related capacities;
• Increased the rigor of evidence in education, supporting 57 validation studies that helped 16 grantees improve their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) tier, with 13 now meeting the top two evidence tiers; and
• Advanced the field’s focus on evidence-based solutions, with our team contributing to 123 third-party events, publishing 29 op-eds, and earning an 83rd percentile rating from grantees for advancing the state of knowledge in the field.

The pages that follow explore six areas where we have been particularly successful in helping grantees unlock innovation, evidence, and growth. For now, I’ll highlight three:

• High-impact tutoring: With over $43 million of investment, our tutoring grantees collectively increased their reach by 1,400 percent, now supporting more than 800,000 students through programs that are more cost-effective and scalable due to technology-enabled innovation and sustained evidence-building.
• Educator professional learning: Grantees providing professional learning, supported by over $44 million in funding, collectively grew their reach by 238 percent, reaching over 40,000 educators and demonstrating emerging evidence of improved teacher practice and student outcomes—while also reducing costs through intentional use of technology and artificial intelligence.
• Chronic absenteeism: Our $4 million of investments in chronic absenteeism supported the creation of Attendance Works’ 50% Challenge, with 18 participating states, as well as the launch of seven research studies and the completion of three knowledge resources that are helping the field better understand and respond to chronic absenteeism in the post-pandemic era.

We’re incredibly proud of the progress reflected in this five-year chapter. At the same time, our work surfaced important lessons alongside areas of opportunity and continued improvement. As we look ahead, we’ll carry these insights forward to ensure our grantmaking remains responsive, strategic, and grounded in evidence. You can find more details on our next strategic plan in my Looking Forward letter.

Before turning fully to what comes next, I want to share why this moment leaves me genuinely hopeful. While the work ahead is hard, we’re beginning to see critical pieces align across the education ecosystem. High-quality instructional materials and evidence-based interventions are increasingly converging with demand-side accountability through state and district policies focused on outcomes. Simultaneously, funders are working collectively to consider what the field needs, aligning on focused outcomes versus individual strategies. And, bright spots showing that progress is possible are emerging all over the country, from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Washington, D.C., to cities like Steubenville, Richmond, and many others. Together, these shifts suggest that we’re moving closer to the conditions required for sustainable, at-scale improvement in student outcomes.

I want to close with gratitude, because this progress is ultimately the result of people choosing to take risks, learn, and collaborate over time.

I’m deeply grateful to our trustees for their steady leadership and commitment to a long-term vision grounded in learning, partnership, and evidence. Your support made it possible to experiment, adapt, and stay the course through uncertainty.

To our Foundation staff, past and present: thank you for five years of thinking and acting with rigor, learning together, and connecting genuinely. You’ve strengthened grantees and our collective work through moments of challenge and growth, while holding yourselves to an ever-higher bar. What we’ve learned positions us to support and impact even more children in the years to come.

And to our grantee partners: this chapter’s success belongs to you as much as it does to us. Your willingness to test new ideas, build evidence, and stay the course despite significant challenges has advanced the field and moved the needle on student outcomes. We’re grateful for your trust and partnership.

Looking back on these five years, I’m proud not only of what we accomplished but how—through collaboration, learning, and an unwavering commitment to expanding children’s opportunity to unlock their potential. With that foundation beneath us, I believe our best work is still ahead.

Sincerely,