Diploma Plus, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization, headquartered in Boston, seeks to develop, implement, and sustain, in partnership with school districts and communities, innovative educational approaches and small secondary schools that provide rigorous and student-centered alternatives for youth who have been failed by the traditional system in order to nurture their power as learners and enable them to complete high school, college, and career-ready. The core of the Diploma Plus model centers on the establishment of a competency-, performance-based systems in public high schools.
Diploma Plus has built its capacity to provide rigorous and student-centered alternatives for high-need youth since 1996. Diploma Plus was founded as a 100-student pilot initiative with two community-based organizations, supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and a handful of Boston-based funders. The potential of the model attracted considerable attention, and in 2003 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided funds to support replication in 10 schools in New England and NYC. With encouragement and advocacy from the Gates Foundation, Diploma Plus became a founding member of the Association for High School Innovation. The initial success of this replication led to additional investments by the Gates Foundation and national and regional foundations to extend the work to 12 additional schools in New England, NYC, and California, and the opportunity to form a strong partnership with The Mind Trust, a well-noted non-profit devoted to developing and expanding transformative education initiatives.
A wide range of private philanthropies have invested in bringing the model to greater numbers of youth. Funders have been positively impressed with Diploma Plus' reliability, timeliness, and deliverables; specifically, the Gates and Mott Foundations have shown their confidence in Diploma Plus' capacity to improve educational outcomes by funding Diploma Plus' work for multiple grant cycles.
Diploma Plus has built its capacity to provide rigorous and student-centered alternatives for high-need youth since 1996. Diploma Plus was founded as a 100-student pilot initiative with two community-based organizations, supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and a handful of Boston-based funders. The potential of the model attracted considerable attention, and in 2003 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided funds to support replication in 10 schools in New England and NYC. With encouragement and advocacy from the Gates Foundation, Diploma Plus became a founding member of the Association for High School Innovation. The initial success of this replication led to additional investments by the Gates Foundation and national and regional foundations to extend the work to 12 additional schools in New England, NYC, and California, and the opportunity to form a strong partnership with The Mind Trust, a well-noted non-profit devoted to developing and expanding transformative education initiatives.
A wide range of private philanthropies have invested in bringing the model to greater numbers of youth. Funders have been positively impressed with Diploma Plus' reliability, timeliness, and deliverables; specifically, the Gates and Mott Foundations have shown their confidence in Diploma Plus' capacity to improve educational outcomes by funding Diploma Plus' work for multiple grant cycles.
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