With so much attention focused this week on education reform, I wanted to call out the vast amounts of money that has being invested in the education space recently, on the part of both public and private organizations. Here are a few headlines from just the past couple of weeks.
- Mark Zuckerberg pledges $100 million to Newark schools.
- The Obama Administration's i6 Challenge will provide six $1 million awards to businesses that accelerate technology commercialization in specific geographic regions.
- California Foundation funds back-to-school projects for teachers on DonorsChoose.org. $1.3 million donation will help 67,000 students statewide.
- American Express will fund $1 million of classroom projects on DonorsChoose.org if the organization garners 100,000 pledges by today.
- Dell commits to giving $10 million towards education technology initiatives in 2011.
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Oprah's Angel Network grants $6 Million to U.S. charter school programs.
- Publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is making a $400 million investment to back up the company’s increasing emphasis on putting more technology into the nation’s classrooms.
Now let's see to what effect all these millions will be spent.