Shelby Parker (left) and Christina Weathersby are two of the youth organizers from Project VOYCE, an organization that works to reform schools. Read more

Rose Community Foundation’s goal in education is to create lasting and positive change to ensure that every child has access to high-quality education.

Colorado’s substantial education reform in recent years emphasizes statewide standards, assessment, accountability, and the underlying principle that all children – not just an elite few – must achieve at high levels. Research increasingly links students’ academic performance with the quality of teaching they receive.

The Foundation’s grantmaking in education reflects the principle that school programs, policies and practices should ensure the highest possible quality teaching in our community’s classrooms. That is why Rose Community Foundation invested nearly $4 million in ProComp, the groundbreaking teacher-compensation system adopted by Denver Public Schools in 2005. (Click here for information on a book about ProComp released in June 2007.)

While the Foundation focuses its resources on efforts that lead to improved student achievement, it places greatest emphasis on two priorities in prekindergarten through grade 12.

The first is quality teaching. Rose Community Foundation values efforts to develop rigorous teacher-training programs; create alternative forms of compensation that promote and reward good teaching; help existing teachers enhance and improve their instructional abilities; and ensure that high performers and potential high performers see teaching as an attractive and rewarding option for a life-long career.

The second priority is systemic change in individual schools and in public education. Rose Community Foundation supports school restructuring efforts; standards-based education implementation; contract negotiations; school board effectiveness and development; alternative governance structures for schools and/or school districts; and the development of schools as communities of caring, justice and democracy.

With its focus on teacher quality and student achievement, Rose Community Foundation is helping to create lasting change in the state’s educational system.

Click on the following links to see Rose Community Foundation's Grant Guidelines for Education, or to contact Phil Gonring, Senior Program Officer in Education.