A $150-Million Lift for Public Schools

The Wallace–Reader’s Digest Funds have pledged $150-million over five years to a new grants program to improve the leadership of public schools and school districts over the next five years.

The money will be focused on efforts to recruit, train, and retain high-quality principals and superintendents.

The foundation announced an initial set of nine grants totaling $9.7-million.

One of those provided $98,000 to Columbia University’s Teachers College to figure out what it would take to create a national center on education leadership. The other eight grants will support efforts to study the causes of the leadership shortage, and a variety of programs aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of principals and superintendents.

For more information, contact the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds at (212) 251-9700; fax (212) 679-6990, 2 Park Avenue, 23rd Floor, New York 10016; wrdf_education@wallacefunds.org; http://www.wallacefunds.org.