Program areas at EdVestors
Boston public schools arts expansion - a multi-year collaborative effort to expand equitable access to quality arts learning experiences for all students in boston public schools (bps). (continued on schedule o) this public-private partnership involves a large and coordinated network of partners, including schools, arts institutions, teaching artists, and funders, among others. As a result of this public-private partnership, 17,000 more students annually receive arts education as compared with more than a decade ago and our private investment has leveraged a 5:1 return of increased bps district budget investment for arts education. Edvestors is the lead implementation partner for bps arts expansion. In 2019, Edvestors partnered with bloomberg philanthropies to bring the bloomberg arts internship to boston, providing high school students with summer internships at the city's foremost cultural institutions and organizations.
Career pathways - aims to ensure all students can access high quality career learning and pathways experiences in boston's public high schools that equip students with the academic, technical, and social fluency to thrive in high school and beyond. Through the career pathways initiative, Edvestors helps high schools and the district to plan and provide quality career education experiences for more boston students, enabling them to develop the skills needed to identify, navigate towards, and realize their college and career readiness goals. In 2020, Edvestors partnered with jpmorgan chase on a five-year program that will strengthen career and college preparations in boston's public schools.
Edvestors' mathematics program (also known as zeroing in on math) hasa goal of improving the mathematics educational experiences andoutcomes of students in boston public schools, with a specific aim ofadvancing equity in mathematics. (continued on schedule o)through this work, teachers, students, and administrators are engaged to advance teaching, learning, and curricular improvements. Over the years, this program at Edvestors has worked with more than 20 boston schools and over 160 teachers. Results have shown that students have benefited with increased assessment outcomes and teachers have reported greater competencies in teaching mathematics. Moving forward, Edvestors will build on these accomplishments while working toward having a system-level impact driven by the connectedness of our school-based work, district-level partnerships, and external collaborations.
Other program services include the school on the move prize, racial equity seed fund, and other programmatic expenses. The school on the move prize is boston's premier award for boston public schools. The annual prize includes a monetary award to one of bps' most rapidly improving schools, with smaller grants to the two finalists. The prize also comes with public recognition and the opportunity for the winning school to document and share their successful improvement strategies to inform the work of educators. Through the racial equity seed fund, Edvestors makes small investments in up to 15 projects each year to provide schools with the opportunity to create an action-based learning community that implements, tests, and scales solutions to advance racial equity. Investing in on-the-ground solutions, in partnership with our funders, is an essential part of Edvestors' approach to strategic philanthropy.