The Fund’s vision is to enable educational excellence for all students. Part of that vision includes improving educational options and outcomes for every student in the Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools). Together with our partners, we are moving Baltimore away from a one size fits all approach to education and finding more ways to meet the unique needs of Baltimore’s students. By focusing on college readiness and access, we are helping to improve the variety and quality of Baltimore’s school options -- leading to better academic and social outcomes, and more post secondary school options. Some examples of this work include:

• Secondary Transformation Schools Initiative.  One of Baltimore’s boldest initiatives is its goal to open up to 24 new Secondary Transformation Schools by the 2011-12 school year. At scale, these schools will serve students in grades 6 through 12 and each offers a unique college and/or career preparatory focus... Read More 

• Learning to Work Initiative.  The Fund is working closely with our City Schools partners on the development of its new Learning to Work (LTW) initiative, a critical next step in Baltimore’s continuing efforts to ensure that all students graduate ready for college and/or career success. The goal is to build an LTW program that works in tandem with all secondary schools regardless of their core programming focus, giving all students access to an LTW option at the school of their choice... Read More

• Accelerator Schools Project.  The Fund has joined with the City Schools and the Open Society Institute-Baltimore (OSI) to launch the creation of new Accelerator Schools, an initiative that has the potential to dramatically reframe education in Baltimore City. By moving away from a "one size fits all" approach, Baltimore will offer young people a range of high-quality options for successfully completing high school on their own timeline... Read More

• College and Career Readiness Consortium. In 2008, the Fund helped launch the College Readiness Consortium to support a new comprehensive college access and readiness strategy for Baltimore City. Part of a grant to the Fund from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Consortium members include: Abell Foundation, Associated Black Charities, City Schools, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CollegeBound Foundation, and the Fund. The Consortium has already made significant progress on a number of areas. For example, City Schools and the Fund recently awarded new, two-year grants to institute Advanced Placement (AP) courses at three high schools that had previously had no or just one AP course. The Fund serves as Co-Chair of the Consortium, and as the major convener, evaluator and fiscal agent for this Gates grant.