K-12 Education Reform
The Walton Family Foundation invests in programs that empower parents to choose the best education for their children. In some neighborhoods across America, parents have access to excellent educational options. But in too many other communities, educational options are limited and often dismal.
The communities with the fewest educational options also tend to be places where students encounter the lowest performing schools. A majority of children in these neighborhoods drop out of school and suffer the lifelong consequences of missed educational opportunities. It is in these communities where the Foundation concentrates its work.
To foster a broad range of quality school options for all Americans, the foundation does not limit itself to any single type of school or curriculum. We believe students can receive excellent educations from all types of schools, including traditional public schools, public charter schools, and private schools. As a result, we invest in helping families access all types of quality schools. We are interested in helping children to receive high-quality educations in public, charter and private schools. The most important thing is that children are educated to the high standards necessary to succeed and thrive in today’s world.
Initiatives
Public Charter School
The Public Charter School Initiative aims to increase the number of children who have access to high-quality public charter schools. The Foundation focuses its support on 30 urban school districts and Arkansas and supports groups that are:
- Starting public charter schools that show potential for dramatically raising student achievement;
- Developing state and national associations that serve, protect and cultivate the public charter school movement;
- Recruiting and training leaders and teachers for public charter schools; and
- Addressing the need of public charter schools for facilities.
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School Choice
The School Choice Initiative supports initiatives that empower low-income students to choose and attend quality private schools. The Foundation supports state and national groups that:
- Build support for public policies that provide school choice;
- Manage and strengthen publicly funded scholarship programs;
- Provide families with clear and useful information about their traditional public, public charter, and private school options; and
- Evaluate the performance and effects of large school-choice programs.
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School District Improvement
The School District Improvement Initiative provides support to the targeted urban school districts of Albany, NY, Columbus, OH, Milwaukee, WI, and Washington, D.C., which are working constructively to improve student achievement by:
- Increasing accountability for school and student performance;
- Making student performance and district finances more transparent to parents and the public;
- Expanding the number of high-quality educational options available to students; and
- Aligning incentives such as teacher pay with improved student achievement.
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Arkansas Education
The Arkansas Education Initiative seeks to raise the performance of Arkansas schools and prepare students for post-secondary education and careers in industry. Specifically, this initiative seeks to support statewide programs designed to:
- Encourage greater accountability, transparency and choice in Arkansas schools and provide incentives for improved performance; and
- Produce school district improvement, quality public charter schools, and school choice programs that align with the Foundation's national education reform initiatives.