Giving Compass' Take:

• Charmain Mercer, an education program officer sheds light on how equity can be brought into education on a deeper level and how philanthropy can help to make this a reality. 

• Are public schools in your community making decisions that enforce equitable practices into their education system?

• Here's an article on the responsibility to end inequality in education.

Charmaine Jackson Mercer recently joined the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as an education program officer. She supports both our deeper learning portfolio of grantees and the program’s deep dive into equity. We spoke with Charmaine, and here is a little bit of our conversation:

What are the main challenges facing students in our nation’s public schools?

Overwhelmingly, our nation’s public schools are designed to support an agrarian and industrial era, not the information and technological society of the 21st century. In addition, an increasing majority of our public school students come from low-income families. They are more likely than their wealthier counterparts to attend schools that have fewer resources, fewer rigorous course offerings, and more inexperienced teachers. These conditions nearly guarantee that the students attending these schools will be ill-prepared for the world that awaits them.

What can philanthropy do to help?

Philanthropy is well poised to help address many of these challenges. Most directly, it can support schools, districts, and states seeking to provide these types of learning experiences. In addition, philanthropy can support a range of policies that underlie these learning opportunities, such as formative and summative assessments, consistent and high standards, or district-wide innovation.

A complementary funding strategy would be to invest in community and grassroots organizations as a way of creating a demand for this type of teaching and learning.  Lastly, philanthropy that is guided by goals of equity can ensure that students who have been historically underserved or who remain furthest from opportunity are not overlooked.

Read the full interview about equity work in education by Charmaine Mercer at the Hewlett Foundation.