Assessing Philanthropy to Improve Early Childhood Education: How Representing Indicators, Networks, Learning, and Change Matters

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Philanthropic Giving Practices Across Diverse Contexts in Public Education

Abstract

XX Foundation’s Aspiration (pseudonym) is a network of 52 high-need communities, statewide partners and government agencies that support school readiness and success for one New England state’s youngest (0-8) children. Core work includes community collaboration, policy advocacy, and capacity building to improve health, education, childcare, and data quality/access.

The XX Foundation’s Targeted Assessment of Foundation Contribution is a knowledge development effort to improve the quality and impact of Aspiration. It systematically and critically assesses organizational and network “contributions” to identified strategic goals. This paper shares lessons learned from Assessment exploration of the literature and qualitative and quantitative data regarding key strategies. It argues that how indicators and data are identified and represented matters enormously for supporting learning and change effects.

Author

• Sousan Arafeh, Southern Connecticut State University