Strong American Schools

Strong American Schools, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, is a nonprofit organization supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that seeks to promote sound education policies for all Americans. Through its “ED in 08” information and nonpartisan advocacy campaign, it sought to inspire a debate about America’s schools and to make education a top priority in the 2008 presidential election.^[1]

Steering committee

Roy Romer, the former governor of Colorado and a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, serves as chairman of the organization. Marc S. Lampkin, the deputy campaign manager for the 2000 Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, acts as the executive director.

Strong American Schools / ED in 08 Steering Committee
Roy Romer Chairman Former Governor of Colorado Former Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District
Eli Broad Founder, The Broad Foundations
Allan Golston President of U.S. Program, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Janet Murguía President and CEO, National Council of La Raza
Louis Gerstner Former CEO of IBM
John Engler Former Governor of Michigan President of the National Association of Manufacturers
Marc Lampkin Executive Director

Campaign goal

The stated goal of the campaign is to achieve nationwide debate on education reform during which every presidential candidate addresses three priorities for improving education:^[2]

Agreeing on American education standards
Providing effective teachers in every classroom
Giving students more time and support for learning

Details

Strong American Schools ran its information campaign like a presidential campaign, but would not support or oppose any candidate for public office and would not take positions on legislation. The Broad and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations committed up to $60 million to fund the effort.^[3] Strong American Schools and the ED in 08 campaign were the successors to the STAND UP campaign launched in 2006, and had a headquarters staff in Washington, DC, and field offices in Manchester, NH and in Des Moines, IA.

The campaign was shuttered in March 2009, once it had served its purpose.^[4]

References

↑ Gates Foundation Announcement Archived May 28, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
↑ ED in 08 About Us Archived May 29, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
↑ NY TIMES - Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort
↑ Neal McCluskey: "Strong American Schools, We Hardly Knew Ye", 2 Oct 2008

External links

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