http://www.ssireview.org/articles/ Strategies, Tools, and Ideas for Nonprofits, Foundations, and Socially Responsible Businesses en katiejh@stanford.edu Copyright 2008 2008-08-24T15:00:00-08:00 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/books_to_grow_on/ http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/books_to_grow_on/ On a trek through Nepal in 1998, John Wood was dismayed to discover a school library bereft of books. And so Wood— who was then Microsoft’s director of business development for China—gave up his lucrative job to found the nonprofit Books for Nepal. By 2000, the organization had opened 26 libraries in Nepal and built two schools. Less than eight years later, the organization—now known as Room to Read—celebrated the opening of its 5,000th library. In the meantime, Room to Read grew far beyond Nepal’s borders: first to Vietnam, and then to Cambodia, India, Laos, and Sri Lanka. More recently, Room to Read began working on the African continent, launching South African programs in 2007 and beginning work in Zambia this year. How did Room to Read grow so fast? The media have largely focused on Wood as the catalytic figure in the organization’s success story. Of equal importance, however, is Room to Read’s solid and replicable operational choices. The organization relies on committed local employees, rather than on expensive expatriates. It partners with other education- focused NGOs. It adopts a social entrepreneurial mindset that encourages risk taking through pilot projects. And rather than simply rolling… Education, Nonprofit Management 2008-07-21T14:00:00-08:00 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/c_level_diversity/ http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/c_level_diversity/ Last September, on the 50th anniversary of the landmark desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, Americans acknowledged how the Little Rock Nine (as the first group of black students came to be called) prompted dramatic changes that would create new opportunities for minorities in the coming decades. Indeed, the face of America has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Consider the demographics of Houston, for instance, our nation’s fourth largest metropolitan area. Although 55 percent of Houstonians age 50 and older are white, 77 percent of young adults ages 18 to 30 are minority. And demographics are shifting similarly across the United States—except in corporate America’s executive offices, that is. Despite composing 28 percent of the overall U.S. population, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans represent only 14 percent of graduates from leading undergraduate colleges and universities. What’s more, these minorities fill only 6 percent to 7 percent of the fast-track entry-level jobs post-college, 8 percent of the major MBA programs, and 3 percent of senior executive positions at major corporations. Why the Problem Exists Students of color have always prioritized going to college, despite the many obstacles along their path. Still, only 45 percent of minority college… Education, Corporate Social Responsiblity, Philanthropy & Responsible Investing 2008-05-29T14:00:01-08:00 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/15_minutes_with_vicky_colbert/ http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/15_minutes_with_vicky_colbert/ Step into a typical classroom in rural Latin America, Africa, or Asia, and you’re likely to see a teacher standing before a large group of students, all sitting upright in rows of neatly arrayed desks, reciting in unison a lesson they have just memorized. Step into an Escuela Nueva school and the scene is very different. Students are typically scattered around the room at various learning centers, each working diligently on a personalized learning program, while the teacher moves from one student to another to help them work through a particular problem. The traditional approach to education is centered on the teacher, whereas Escuela Nueva’s approach is centered on the child. In an Escuela Nueva school the teacher’s role is to help every child advance at his or her own pace. Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education. This is not a new pedagogy, but for most of the communities that Escuela Nueva operates in, the approach couldn’t be more revolutionary – or successful. Vicky Colbert launched Escuela Nueva in 1975 to help teachers in rural Colombia improve their schools. Many schools adopted the model, and the benefits were substantial. In 1996 Education, Nonprofit Management 2008-03-10T20:34:01-08:00 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/alan_bersin/ http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/alan_bersin/ Alan Bersin not only embraces change, he also thinks deeply and broadly about how to achieve it in public education. As superintendent of public education for San Diego, he headed a dramatic, often controversial effort to turn around the nation’s eighth largest school district. During the first four years of Bersin’s tenure, from 1998 to 2002, overall achievement scores increased 15 percent in reading and 20 percent in math. At the same time, his tenure was marked by battles with the teachers union and some school board members. In July 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Bersin as California’s secretary of education. He now faces the challenge of trying to improve educational performance statewide. In an interview with James A. Phills Jr., a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and academic editor of SSIR, Bersin reflects on leadership, change, and the nature of public education. What are the key drivers of educational performance? If we want to improve student achievement broadly across schools and across ethnic and socioeconomic groups, the research is fairly clear that the quality of instruction is the driver that most counts, particularly with regard to kids from lower socioeconomic areas. I include in that not only… Education, Nonprofit Management, Government 2006-11-17T17:12:00-08:00 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_workings_of_class/ http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_workings_of_class/ After 12 years of teaching language arts at a middle school that serves many working-class children, Ellen O'Neil has decided to change careers. "I come home every night, bone-tired, feeling like the blood has been drained out of my body," she explains. "It's like we're trying to educate a population that doesn't want to be educated. They show up late or don't show up at all. On a good day, half of them do their homework. "The parents aren't much better," she continues. "They don't show up for back-toschool night, they don't check their children's work, they don't return my phone calls. "At the beginning of the school year, I work hard to get everyone involved. But the ones who don't follow through -- I just stop wasting my energy. And that feels really bad. I know it's wrong, but I don't know what else to do." On a slightly lower rung of the socioeconomic ladder lives Ryan James,1 a prison guard. James is also perturbed by certain unnamed, amorphous, yet very real social class issues that keep cropping up at his daughter's preschool. For example, a teacher met with James to view and discuss his daughter's portfolio -- a… Education 2005-09-01T11:11:01-08:00 http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/models_of_participation/ http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/models_of_participation/ Even the smallest businesses know how important it is to listen to their customers. Yet in the public sector, after decades of efforts to reform government and promote greater citizen input, government ineffectiveness and insensitivity to public need still abounds. Can government ever be as attentive to citizens' needs as businesses are to consumer needs? The answer to how public services can adopt a more democratic and inclusive decision-making attitude, writes Michael Mintrom, associate professor of political studies at the University of Auckland, may lie in the charter schools. His study, "Market Organizations and Deliberative Democracy: Choice and Voice in Public Service Delivery," was published last March in Administration & Society (vol. 35, no. 1). Charter schools are designed to shake up the entrenched education system by competing with traditional public schools. Their funding is based upon enrollment, and is not guaranteed. They are market-driven organizations because they survive by competing to attract and retain students. To investigate the extent to which charter schools can embody both market-driven and inclusive decisionmaking logics, Mintrom surveyed decision-making processes in schools in Michigan, which has the thirdlargest concentration of charter schools in the United States. He surveyed 101 charter school principals (out of… Education, Government 2004-06-01T11:12:01-08:00