Kent McGuire and Zoe Stemm-Calderon on Building an Inclusive Public Education

Episode 5 Kent McGuire and Zoe Stemm-Calderon on building an inclusive public education

#educationfunders #publiceducation #fundercollaboratives #equitabledemocracy

Overview

Kent McGuire of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Zoe Stemm-Calderon from the Raikes Foundation sit down with Katie Hong to discuss their work on advancing equitable and inclusive public education across the United States. In this episode they share their foundations’ collaborative efforts as well as their own personal and professional experiences – both inside and outside of philanthropy – in the education space. 

Key Lessons and Insights

  • History matters (22:11) 
    Zoe shares her experience of joining the philanthropic education space nearly a decade ago, learning deeply from Kent that present day political and social climates are not ahistorical. There is a long history to be recognized and understood as we march forward. Kent adds that though the movement for inclusive public education has been in motion for a long time, today there is a “new kind of urgency that we should bring to the work.”'
     
  • Collaboration as a necessity (34:00)
    Zoe and Kent share their experiences breaking out of silos and leaning into collaborations to address emerging needs in the education space. "I needed a partner," Kent emphasizes, as he reflects on working with Zoe. "I needed a partner out there who had the time, energy and sophistication to get people organized," he says. Zoe adds, "I'm the workhorse. I'm going to do the deck, right? And move the things. And I think what I really appreciate is that we can have a relationship where Kent's wisdom and analysis and lived experience shapes so much." She reminds us that we all bring our own super powers to this work and when we bring them together our work is more stratgic, sophisticated, adaptive, etc.  
     
  • Radical honesty as a way to build trust (53:18)
    When building a collective movement, Kent reminds us that “the ability to talk to each other about where we’re struggling” builds trust and relationships needed in collaborative work. "That's what these structures that we are creating in are in part for," he says, reminding us that funder collaboratives are just as much about learning how to work with one another as they are about the more technical aspects of our work. 

 

On-going Reflections

Zoe reminds us that we all bring our own super powers to this work and when we bring them together our work is more stratgic, sophisticated, adaptive, etc. What super powers do you bring to your work? What super powers do you see in your colleagues and partners? How might you nurture them and bring them together to strengthen your collective work?

 

Resources and References

  • Brown v. Board of Education: In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to separate children in schools by race.
     
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964: Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.”
     
  • Christopher Rufo: Writer, activist and filmmaker who has worked for the Heritage Foundation and has appeared on Fox News pushing efforts to ban topics such as LGBTQ issues, critical race theory, and DEI training. 
  • Heather McGhee: Educator and author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.
     
  • Education Future Fund: Group of funders, including Raikes and Hewlett, who are aligned around strategies and narratives, and are pooling resources to advocate for public schools. 

 


Kent McGuire
Program Director, Education at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Kent McGuire is the Program Director of Education at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He leads the investments of our teaching and learning and open educational resources strategies, with a focus on helping all students succeed in college, work and civic life.

 

Previously, Kent was the President and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation, an organization committed to advancing public education in the American South, with a focus on equity and excellence. Prior to that, he served as the Dean of the College of Education at Temple University and was a tenured professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

 

From 2001 to 2003, Kent was a senior vice president at the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, where he split his time between research projects on school reform and directing its department on education, children and youth. He has also been an education program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts and directed the education program at the Lilly Endowment. Kent served as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education from 1998 to 2001.

 

Kent earned his Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Colorado, an M.A. from Columbia University Teacher’s College, and a B.A in economics from the University of Michigan. He serves on the boards of the Wallace Foundation, Teacher’s College Columbia University, the Success for All Foundation, the National Public Education Support Fund, and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars.

Zoe Stemm Calderon Headshot
Zoe Stemm-Calderon
Senior Director, Youth Serving Systems at the Raikes Foundation

Zoë Stemm-Calderon is the senior director of the Raikes Foundation’s youth serving systems strategy, where she supports the teams to co-develop strategy and do strong grantmaking in support of the field. Previously, she led the Foundation’s education strategy where she oversaw the development and implementation of our grantmaking in that portfolio. Zoë is passionate about working with young people, communities, policy makers and practitioners to build a world where all young people thrive.

Prior to joining the Foundation in 2015, Zoë served as a resident at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation while completing her doctorate in education leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previously, Zoë was assistant superintendent of professional support and development at Houston Independent School District (ISD). Prior to her work in Houston ISD, Zoë was a senior leader at Teach for America, where she spent her 10-year tenure focused on advancing the organization's approach to teacher, coach, and manager development. Zoë began her career as an elementary school teacher in Houston.

She earned her doctorate in education leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education and completed her bachelor’s degree in international studies at the University of Washington. Zoë lives in Seattle, loves camping with her husband Andre and two teenage daughters, and puttering in her garden. 

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