Guidelines for School, School-Based and Other Education Programs

The Foundation is aggressive in its efforts to “level the playing field” for underserved children through support of excellent education in New York City. We fund programs that act as portals for young people to superior public, private, parochial and alternative schools, as well as those that prepare students for success as they transition from one school or academic level to another. We do not endorse any particular school model but rather support a variety of institutions that insist on student achievement using tools such as extended time schooling and enrichment activities specifically connected to curriculum. In deciding whether to fund a program or school we give substantial weight to those that critically assess their own performance using objective criteria.

If you are a school or network of schools seeking Heckscher funding, please include answers to the following questions in your application:

• How do you recruit students and engage families in your program? Do families pay any tuition and how is this determined?
• If yours is an independent, parochial or alternative program, is your curriculum correlated to the NYC academic standards? If not, what standards?
• What are your academic achievement results (vs. the NYC average) and how are they measured?
• What structural/scheduling decisions have you made to improve student achievement? How is student time allocated across academic, enrichment and recreation activities?
• Where do you get and how do you retain/develop your faculty members?
• How does your program connect students to the “real world” such as through career exposure, mentoring opportunities and/or outside trips?

If yours is an education program but not a school or school network, please consider the above questions (answering any that are relevant) as well as the following, if applicable:

• How does your program work with schools to identify and recruit students?
• If you are housed at a school, what is your relationship with the host institution? How do you train or engage any partner teachers at the school?
• Is your program dependent on the Department of Education for funding or endorsement?