D.C. public schools will get a nearly $5 million funding infusion for its “Double the Numbers” initiative from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, District officials announced Monday.
The donation, which is believed to be the largest private donation the city’s schools have ever received, will go toward expanding the number of high school students that graduate college. A Gates Foundation-commissioned study released in October found that only 9 percent of District high school students earned a college degree within five years of graduation.
The report prompted the “Double the Numbers” initiative, which aims to double the number of students who graduate college by 2010 and triple the number by 2013.
The Gates Foundation donated $4.8 million to the D.C. Education Compact, a coalition of local business, nonprofits and other organizations dedicated to improving D.C. schools. The coalition will oversee the donation, which will be distributed over the next three years. The funding will go to the city’s middle and high schools, and the coalition is expected to release a detailed plan for the money in the new year.
While this is the largest lump sum the Gates Foundation has given to support D.C. schools, the donation is part of a broader effort to boost underperformingschools throughout the country.
To date, the foundation has given more than $1 billion to individual schools, including 12 in the District.
“The District has come together with a unified commitment to develop real solutions to improve student performance and to ensure all students are prepared for college and work,” Clifford Janey, superintendent for D.C. schools, said at a Monday morning news conference at Ballou High School in Southeast. “This investment supports this positive momentum.”
