Funder’s Forum: Robert R. McCormick Foundation A conversation with Sara Slaughter

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, is committed to fostering communities of educated, informed, and engaged citizens. Based in Chicago, the foundation was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. Through involvement in philanthropic programs including education, civics, communities, journalism, and veterans, the foundation helps develop citizen leaders and works to make life better in our communities. The Foundation Center asked Sara Slaughter, its education program director:

Question How has the McCormick Foundation’s strategy for funding child and youth education evolved over the years?

“Twenty years ago the McCormick Foundation began focusing on early education after a wealthy Chicago businessman named Irving Harris talked to our board. They asked him where the foundation should invest to get the most impact. Harris had come armed with research about how the brain develops in early childhood and that convinced the board to support early childhood education. We initially started with birth through age five. We came to realize over time that early education was not an inoculation. It is a continuum of quality care and education that helps kids succeed, and the early years lay the foundation for success and have the biggest payoff. So over time, we decided to extend our funding to birth to third grade because less attention is usually given to early elementary school years.

“The other evolution in our funding was that although we've always focused on Illinois, in the past we were very much focused on direct service organizations. But we realized we could not reach every child in Chicago, much less Illinois. To have the greatest impact, we needed to shift our focus from funding only direct service to funding quality systems. So we now focus on building a quality birth to third grade system, which has also led to funding organizations that advocate for changes in public policy.

“The way we look at it is that good research informs good practice, which informs good policy. It's a continuum, because even when you have good policies in place, you have to go back and look at the programs and ask, ‘Is that good policy really translating into good things for students, for kids, teachers, and parents on the ground?’ Research, program, and policy are related. And I think oftentimes there’s a misperception that when a funder like us is known for funding policy, we don’t fund any programs. But when you look underneath the hood, so to speak, you discover that there's also a lot of practical research and evaluation being funded, in addition to the development of good programs. When we do fund a direct service, it's always with an eye toward, ‘Is this something that has the opportunity to inform policy and go to scale?’

“Here’s a good example of how research, policy, and programs are all related. About six years ago, the McCormick education team realized that more and more elementary schools have pre-school classrooms in them. And then we realized that most principals of elementary schools don't — or at least we believed that they didn’t — have experience with early education classrooms. So we started investigating this, and we ended up funding a research project that did some surveys in Illinois. What we found was that many elementary schools have pre-school classrooms and most principals had neither early education experience in the classroom nor early education training. After we conducted the research, we then looked at the practice piece and found a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Professor Steve Tozer, who had a principal preparation program that was very well-respected. It turned out that he himself had graduated from Erikson Institute, a renowned early childhood preparation program. So we approached Steve and said, ‘Would you embed early childhood education into your principal preparation program?’ And he agreed. Then it turns out that he was also, at the time, sitting on a state-wide policy commission charged with looking at how principals are being trained and seeking ways that the system could be reformed. So when the State recommendations for reform came out, the commission was able to embed requirements that all principals have to have training in early education, special education, and English language learning.

“For years and years people have recognized that early care and education is important. And there's been a whole lot of research, evidence, and longitudinal studies that have tried to prove that this is an important area. And I think now that the early childhood field is at a real turning point. People really do understand the value of early care and education. I hope that the philanthropic community can help the field seize this moment. We know what really good early childhood programs can do. But not all of our programs are up to the standard of quality that will yield that result. So we've really got to think about how we support the teachers and the leaders in the programs that can make a difference. And we also have to step up our funding of public policy so that elected officials at the national, state and local levels will have the patience to stand by early childhood programs while they ramp up the quality, and really make a difference for all kids, starting with those most at risk of failure.”

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Program Director
Robert R. McCormick Foundation