National Forum Lauded in Grantmakers Report on Middle-Grades Reform

The EDC-based National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform receives special recognition in a new report entitled, “Maturing Investments: Philanthropy and Middle Grades Reform,” released last week by the group Grantmakers in Education. The report calls the Forum “the leading edge of the middle grades movement, a means to put forth and galvanize action around a shared vision of middle grades education and a unique entity in the philanthropic world.”

The report analyzed the tens of millions of dollars invested in middle grades reform by four large foundations: the Lilly Endowment, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. According to the report, “the funders involved in these efforts have made real progress that has led to significant new understanding about middle grades, far greater capacity among educators and other stakeholders to address middle grades, and, for many students, improved outcomes.”

But the report goes on to say that since all of these foundations have ended their financial commitments, the successes in middle-grades reform are at risk if additional funders do not come forward to continue the investment.