Funder’s Forum: The Louis Calder Foundation A conversation with Holly Nuechterlein

The focus of the Louis Calder Foundation, based in New Canaan, CT, is education reform. It supports academic programs throughout the country that offer families alternatives to underperforming public schools. It focuses on four funding areas: charter and parochial schools, teacher and leadership development, capital projects, and policy research. The Foundation Center asked Holly Nuechterlein, the Calder Foundation's grant program director:

Question How did the Louis Calder Foundation come to support alternative education models, and what strategies did you find effective in establishing these programs?

Answer “A significant change in our priorities occurred in 2006. The foundation had sought to support the educational and personal development of children and youth in the New York City area by providing access to academic non-school hour and summer programming. The foundation, a private trust established in 1951, realized that to have a systemic impact on what children were learning our strategy needed to primarily focus on core curricula during the school day, and the decision was made to support the more autonomous charter schools and parochial schools.

“The trustees believe that a quality education depends on what is taught, how it is taught, and when it is taught. The CMOs (charter management organizations) understand how these qualities intersect in theory and practice. They create a culture, pervasive throughout the school, that each child has the potential to learn at the highest standards. More classroom hours and longer school years are allocated to reach these high academic standards. We look for CMOs and faith-based schools that are working to implement rigorous academic standards and a content-rich, core knowledge curriculum.

“Our strategy is to enable the best providers to expand by growing grade-levels and opening new schools to serve more students. Many of the schools we support are ‘no excuses’ schools because they have high expectations and high standards. They have a culture that tells students ‘you can achieve this no matter what’ and they provide every support necessary for those students to succeed. These schools show each child that they have the potential to learn and build their knowledge so that they have the ability to reason and make decisions. We also support STEM programs that complement the traditional liberal arts curriculum that is being utilized in these schools. It is exposure to science, literature, math, art, music, history, and geography that provide the essential background knowledge that all students need.

“The other strategies we use to support the growth and expansion of charter and faith-based schools are alternative teaching models and leadership development programs, public policy research on education reform, and capital projects. One barrier to a school’s ability to expand is facilities. Our capital grant strategy is to support new school facilities, as well as renovation of classrooms and science labs to make the environment more conducive to learning.

“We are encouraged by the significant charter school growth in the past five years. Many of the high-performing CMOs continue to focus on improving their academic curricula as they expand to reach more students. These schools have the autonomy and commitment to improve as they grow. And there are dedicated leaders who are opening new schools with rigorous academic standards, some leveraging technology as a tool for teachers. The foundation’s grantmaking strategies help build the capacity of these schools to expand and succeed in the work of educating children — creating readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers.”

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