Studies | Education • The Caruthers Institute

National K-12 Education Foundations

K-12 education foundations are engaging their local communities – often the top business leaders – to generate learning resources for classrooms, teachers and students. These resources represent flexible dollars for school districts to use to keep pace with the rapidly changing learning environment.

K-12 education foundations offer programs that shape the whole student – arts and music programs, environmental education, dropout prevention, leadership training, programs to cultivate young entrepreneurs, and career and technical education – to mention only a handful of the efforts. In fact, many education foundations were advocating STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) long before it became a trendy, mainstream education topic. Programs like these can help kids on their pathway in life, for example, music can give children structure and light up their creative skills by giving them something physical to learn and strive for. Knowing why music is important for child development can help educators push for programs that can facilitate these needs for children who may have not previously had that chance to try this out. This is just one example of a sector, there are many other sectors from science to physical education that each have their positives for children’s wellbeings.

Many education foundation board members have a unique blend of skills and experience – they are local business leaders who have a deep understanding of public education. These board members are engaging leaders in their communities to invest money, talent and time into improving the student learning experience.

The Institute has conducted numerous national studies (see studies below) of K-12 education foundations to quantify how they are enhancing public education.