National Program

The National Program aims to contribute to a robust democracy fueled by increased educational opportunity, improved institutions of learning, increased civic participation, and immigrant integration.

Today, there is little doubt that America has entered a period of rapid and dislocating social change. Global forces challenge the capacity of our educational systems to prepare youth for economic self-sufficiency and to equip sufficient numbers of young people with the level of knowledge and skills required to maintain the United States as an active democracy and a world economic power. Growing economic inequality in our society is fed by labor market shifts that place educational attainment as the key driver of individual success in far more dramatic ways than in past decades. And at this time, when academic achievement is the currency of mobility, significant racial, ethnic and socio-economic achievement gaps persist. To meet this challenge the nation faces the critical task of transforming public education (including higher education) to prepare students of all backgrounds with the knowledge and skills needed for economic success and for participation in a pluralistic democracy. Carnegie Corporation is committed to furthering this work.

Because the expansion of educational opportunity is inextricably linked to the revitalization of democracy, we have integrated our Education and Strengthening U.S. Democracy programs into a unified National Program and focused our grantmaking on two major goals:

In furthering these goals, the National Program will build on efforts already in place in support of teacher education, school reform, literacy and immigrant integration. Grantmaking activities will include support of demonstration programs, promising innovations and capacity-building in selected institutions as well as research, communications, policy analysis and advocacy. These activities will contribute to the development of:

• High-performing systems of public secondary schools incorporating accountability and data-driven management and instructional strategies, high-quality leaders and teachers as well as school designs that promote college readiness, preparation for productive adult lives and civic participation
• Higher education institutions that successfully educate students representing the diversity of our society, produce graduates with increased competency for business and the professions, especially teaching, cultivate a cadre of future leaders, and develop a technically skilled workforce capable of continuous learning and citizens with a strong sense of civic responsibility.
• Legal and social integration of immigrant populations and disconnected youth, and increased tolerance for pluralism within our democratic society;
• Increased voting and civic participation by young people, immigrants and disconnected populations.

Meeting the Education Challenges Ahead
The Corporation's assessment of results in education reform indicate that successful strategies have been both bold and multi-dimensional and that they have shared the following characteristics:

• Strong and capable leadership;
• High-quality teaching;
• Accountability;
• Data-driven decision-making;
• New designs encompassing multiple approaches to school/program organization and the larger system;
• Policy work (including state and federal) and
• Community support for change.

Given these indicators, the objectives listed below have been targeted for potential funding.

Building the K-16 pipeline:

• Spreading new and effective designs for schools and for systems/networks of schools, including: dissemination of learning regarding adaptation efforts--especially successful work in increasing the graduation rates of urban high schools, in particular the graduation of disconnected, under-prepared youth and immigrants who arrive as adolescents, many with interrupted schooling;
• Broadening of the Corporation's adolescent literacy initiative into a college-ready, urban education strategy;
• Strengthening mathematics and science, from middle school through college, via improvements in instruction and human capital distribution; creation of a national commission on Mathematics and Science Education
• Improving data management and data-driven decision-making across education systems, improving assessments and
• Increasing coherence across high school and colleges to improve access and college attendance and degree attainment for urban students and immigrants.

Strengthening accountability: development of data management systems, and capacity to use data to advance teaching and learning, including efforts that:

• Improve the usefulness of national, state, district and school data;
• Build the capacity of states, districts and schools to track students longitudinally and create links for value-added data analysis;
• Increase transparency and access in order to facilitate data-driven instructional improvements, including for ELL programs and
• Link K-12 and higher education through innovation in data-management and accountability systems.

Strengthening human capital--leadership and teaching:

• Research and promising projects on recruiting, increasing knowledge and skills and retaining high-quality leaders and teachers;
• Improving teacher education through the Teachers for a New Era initiative and related work;
• Approaches that strengthen leadership and teaching through recruitment, training and induction, mentoring and support; models in a few selected districts and states that integrate leadership development with data-driven instruction and
• Effective human resource systems in public education that recruit, support and retain high-quality principals and teachers.

Encouraging Citizenship, Civil Participation and Civic Integration
Increasing integration of immigrants and disconnected populations in the United States into civil society and strengthening civic education:

• Legal and social integration of immigrant populations and disconnected youth and
• Increased voting and civic participation by immigrants, young people and disconnected populations.

Smoothing the pathway to citizenship--helping newcomers understand what it means to be an American:

• Increased capacity for citizenship via partnerships with government, nonprofits, business, labor, the religious community and other funders as well as efforts to bridge gaps between ethnic groups;
• Expansion of public education and outreach, support for communities coping with new, large immigrant populations, innovative naturalization strategies and voter registration;
• Building public will for integration through advocacy--media outreach, public opinion research, polling and messaging;
• Enhancing civic education in the schools.

Connecting Threads Throughout the National Program
The National Program will seek synergies among programs that aim to accomplish the following:

• Linking civic education to other domains in education--literacy, data analysis, college-readiness preparation;
• Establishing connections between education and voter engagement to strengthen educational outcomes for urban youth;
• Establishing intersections between teacher education and the policies regarding teacher quality and
• Expanding and strengthening scholarly research within the Corporation's programs.

The Scholars Program: A Special Emphasis on Islam
With Islam reportedly the fastest growing religion in the United States, the work of the Carnegie Scholars Program in improving Americans' knowledge and understanding of Islam is highly valuable for fostering civic integration. Over 124 scholars have been funded to pursue a broad spectrum of research on the values and forces that shape Islam as a religion and social movement. Dissemination of this work is a core element of the Scholars Program and of the Corporation's strategy to strengthen immigrant integration for a vibrant democracy.

More information can be found at: http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/scholars.html

The National Program will employ three methods of grantmaking to promote program integration while continuously working to reach specific goals within programs. Grants will be made:

The work described above will be carried out in a context of collaboration with other foundations when appropriate. One of the Corporation's great advantages has been our commitment to the idea that who funds the work mandated by our mission is less important than making sure critical work is carried out--and carried out successfully. Understanding where other foundations can complement the work of Carnegie Corporation, and pursuing common goals together, remains a priority for us all.

Program Staff
Michele Cahill, Vice-President, National Programs and Program Director, Urban Education
Karin P. Egan, Program Officer, Education
Barbara Gombach, Project Manager, Education
Andrés Henríquez, Program Officer; Manager, Advancing Literacy Project
Geraldine P. Mannion, Program Director, U.S. Democracy and Special Opportunities Fund
Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Program Officer, Urban Education
Patricia L. Rosenfield, Program Director, Carnegie Scholars
Kaveri Vaid, Program Assistant National Program

Related Corporation Work
Carnegie Scholars Program
Special Opportunities Fund
Advancing Literacy
Schools for a New Society
Teachers for a New Era
Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools

Related Publications