THE NEED.
The public education system in the United States is in deep trouble. One piece of evidence (out of many): a 2010 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report comparing 15-year-olds in 70 countries ranked the U.S. fourteenth in reading skills, seventeenth in Science, and a below-average twenty-fifth in mathematics. This simply is not good enough.
THE SOLUTION.
Dramatically improving results will take serious and sustained commitment. That's why the Aspen Institute has made educational reform one of its top priorities. Our efforts include the Education and Society Program, which networks senior Congressional staffers and urban superintendents to strengthen reform, the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, and the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship: Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education. We work with influencers in government, academia, business, community organizations and the private sector – all with the goal of creating the schools our young people want and need.
SUCCESS STORIES.
John Danner is one example of how the Institute's programs foster innovation. The former CEO of NetGravity, Danner sold his company at the age of 31 with the aim of retiring. But after embarking on a two-year Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, he was soon contemplating much broader goals. So in 2006, Danner co-founded Rocketship Education in San Jose, California. Rocketship provides low-income elementary school children with longer school days and higher expectations, with a focus on math and literacy.
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 | "...I approached the poverty problem with education as the major tool for change." —John Danner, Co-Founder and CEO, Rocketship Education and Henry Crown Fellow |
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—Kaya Henderson, Washington, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor, Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, and member of Aspen Urban Superintendents Network |
