Overdeck Family Foundation is thrilled to announce $1 million in grants to support five studies designed to produce data and research that collectively inform the work of policymakers and practitioners in the hope of increasing student attendance from Pre-K to high school. Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of U.S. public school students were considered chronically absent during SY 2022-23. To address this crisis, educators and administrators must have access to high-quality evidence on the root causes of and solutions to chronic absenteeism post-pandemic. cc: Ad Council, Attendance Works, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Texas Tech University, The Los Angeles Trust for Children's Health, UNC School of Education, Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab | The University of Chicago, University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Overdeck Family Foundation
Philanthropic Fundraising Services
New York, NY 5,174 followers
Providing all children the opportunity to unlock their potential.
About us
Overdeck Family Foundation was founded in 2011 by John and Laura Overdeck with the goal of providing all children the opportunity to unlock their potential. We focus exclusively on enhancing education, funding efforts both inside and outside of school in the areas of early childhood, hands-on STEM education, and K-9 programs that include supporting educators and student-centered learning environments. Our grantmaking and strategic support focus on unlocking innovation, evidence, and growth opportunities for organizations and researchers that are committed to accelerating key academic and socioemotional outcomes for all children. We fund both direct impact organizations and ecosystem efforts that clear the path to scale for our grantees and the work that they do.
- Website
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http://overdeck.org
External link for Overdeck Family Foundation
- Industry
- Philanthropic Fundraising Services
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- New York, NY
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 2011
Locations
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Primary
100 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013, US
Employees at Overdeck Family Foundation
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Jonathan Sotsky
Director of Strategic Impact & Learning, Overdeck Family Foundation
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Lina Eroh
Philanthropic Communications Leader
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Joshua Lotstein
Non-Profit Leader | Strategist
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Brittany Sullivan
Communications Officer @ Overdeck Family Foundation | Mission-Driven Storyteller Working in Education Philanthropy | Public Relations, Marketing…
Updates
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“It’s clear that play benefits kids, and yet they have access to an ever-declining amount of it as early as kindergarten . . . One hypothesis for this decline is that educators feel they have to make an either/or choice: play or learning. This false dichotomy harms children and fails to see what science has long known—for young children, play is learning.” In a recent New America op-ed, Carly Roberts and Katelyn Fletcher point to the importance of incorporating joyful, intentional play into learning, especially in elementary school.
Perspectives: The Learning Hidden in Play
overdeck.org
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“Districts and schools have been hard at work to get students back in school more regularly, leveraging an array of approaches including home visits, text messages to parents, community schools, improving the quality of school buildings, and more. One state, Rhode Island, has gone further.” In a new report, our grantee FutureEd at Georgetown examines Rhode Island’s response to the absenteeism crisis over the past year, and its potential to help other states and localities address the absenteeism crisis in public education.
Team Sport: Rhode Island’s Statewide Strategy for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism
https://www.future-ed.org
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In our latest “Spotlight On Innovation,” Emma Banay, Inspired Minds portfolio manager, talks with Nick Monzi, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Learn Fresh, which is dedicated to improving students’ STEM and social-emotional achievement through sports and entertainment. Watch the full conversation for more about this grantee’s innovative approach to inspiring STEM interest, both in and out of the classroom, with programs like NBA Math Hoops and MLB Players STEM League: https://lnkd.in/erj3cymE Nick shares how Learn Fresh established strong partnerships with professional sports organizations, how it trains and develops skilled program coordinators, and what impact the team has seen on students’ learning, confidence, and sportsmanship.
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We are excited to share a new addition to Overdeck Family Foundation and its leadership team. Joshua Lotstein has joined us as Senior Director, Grantmaking, where he will oversee all grantmaking efforts across the Foundation’s four core portfolio areas. He previously served as the head of strategy and planning for our grantee Transcend, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping schools reimagine their learning environments. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of Summit Public Schools, a network of high-performing charter schools in California and Washington. Prior to Summit, Josh led growth strategy and development initiatives at Teach for America, worked as a strategy consultant at The Monitor Group, and began his career as a classroom teacher in New York City public schools. Welcome, Josh!
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"Over the past two decades, it’s become more clear that curricula matter for student learning. For instance, a number of compelling experimental studies have found positive impacts of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) . . . Yet, as the field learns more about curricular use and adoption, it is also becoming evident that just using HQIM may not be effective for boosting student achievement. How these materials are implemented, including the support educators receive in implementation, is important and could ultimately be a key factor in impacting student learning." In a recent blog post, Jessica Fredston-Hermann and Meghan McCormick analyzed the evidence on the importance of pairing HQIM with curriculum-based professional learning to ensure educators have the support they need for impactful instruction.
Spotlight on Evidence: The Role of Curriculum-Based Professional Learning in Boosting Student Achievement
overdeck.org
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Congratulations to our grantees Teaching Lab, LENA, and Stanford University’s Center on Early Childhood—winners in the 2023-24 Tools Competition! The edtech competition announced more than eight million dollars in awards to teams developing or expanding learning tools and platforms that promise to transform education and enhance student engagement worldwide.
The Fourth Annual Tools Competition Awards More Than $8 Million to 50 EdTech Developers and Organizations - Tools Competition
https://tools-competition.org
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In Q2 2024, our foundation awarded 34 grants totaling over $14 million. In our latest blog post, we highlight just some of the direct impact and ecosystem organizations we’re proud to support this quarter. cc: Achievement Network (ANet), Ad Council, American Institutes for Research, Arizona State University Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, ASSISTments, Blue Engine, Center for the Collaborative Classroom, Center for Public Research and Leadership, Center on Reinventing Public Education, Jumpstart, KABOOM!, Learning Heroes (US), LENA, MDRC, MIND Education, Modern Classrooms Project, Playful Learning Landscapes Action Network (PLLAN), PLUS - Personalized Learning Squared, Robin Hood, RPPL (Research Partnership for Professional Learning), Southern Education Foundation, Stanford University, Teaching Lab, Teaching Matters, Tools of the Mind, University of Chicago Education Lab, University of Maryland, Zearn
Overdeck Family Foundation Awards $14 Million in Grants in Q2 2024
overdeck.org
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With the new school year around the corner, school and district leaders may be considering what tutoring solutions will best support their students’ needs. Along the way, they are faced with important questions: - Is tutoring equally valuable for all grade levels and all students? - What are the pros and cons of in-person, hybrid, or virtual tutoring? - What dosage is best? - Should I build my own tutoring program? - How is AI being incorporated into tutoring—does it work? In the latest installment of our “Spotlight On” interview series, Pete Lavorini, manager of the Innovative Schools portfolio, and Meghan McCormick, research and impact officer, sit down for a conversation to examine the evidence behind high-impact tutoring and tackle these critical questions. Watch the full interview: https://lnkd.in/euYVW2cX
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Research consistently demonstrates the potential of high-impact #tutoring to support students’ academic and social-emotional skills. But as districts spend their final federal COVID-19 emergency funds, they must now determine the best way to sustain tutoring programs going forward. There are many challenges with scaling high-impact tutoring—the substantial cost per student, the need to deploy a high-quality tutoring workforce, and the ability to effectively allocate resources to the students most in need of support. Research and impact officer Meghan McCormick examines the current body of evidence on opportunities to address these three key areas through hybrid, virtual, and AI-fueled tutoring models.
Spotlight on Evidence: Investing in Innovative Tutoring Approaches To Boost Student Achievement
overdeck.org