One non-profit doing interesting work is Matchbook Learning. The reason
they stick out to me is simple. Throughout my life, I have seen people and
programmes reward students who perform the best, like merit-based scholarships.
I’ve seen programmes for students who are not in the top15% but quite close.
I’ve even seen programmes for B and C students. But I don’t know of any
regional or national programmes designed to take care and help and fund the
education of the students who are performing the worst. (Incidentally, I see
the same problem within my company as we decide in which countries we want to
do outreach.)
But what I love is that Matchbook Learning works with the
bottom 5% of schools (turnaround schools) in the U.S. using government funding
for turnaround schools. You should watch the TEDxUNC talk: The Future of Education.
Matchbook Learning Founder and CEO Sajan George tells how
he uses technology-infused, mastery-based, data-driven blended learning founded
in excellent teachers to turn schools around. I love how he left his job
turning around failing companies and, wanting to have a bigger impact, decided
to work on turning around failing schools.
His talk reminds me a bit of what some schools and school
districts are doing with Khan Academy.
Khan Academy now has an entire state using them for middle school math support.
A 4-member, schools-implementation team from Khan Academy led a 2-day
Khan Academy workshop for Idaho educators in October 2012 funded by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, an
Idaho-based foundation that focuses on the expansion of excellent and limitless
education for all Idahoans. The Albertson
Foundation initiated a request-for-proposals to all types of Idaho schools
(private, traditional, charter, alternative, after-school) to receive funding
to pilot Khan Academy in the 2013-2014 school year. The grant winners were
announced the 28th of February 2013 and the pilots will start in
this autumn. You can watch a video about how Khan Academy was a saving grace
for the educational
work of the Albertson Foundation and check out the reaction
of teachers at an education conference with Sal Khan in Boise in May 2012.
