Knowledgeworks Foundation

“Business relationships certain knowledgeworks foundation board members are also members of the boards of certain knowledgeworks foundation affiliates. These overlapping board memberships constitute a business relationship as defined by the form 990 instructions.”

“Knowledgeworks foundation contracted with nelnet to administer its student lending programs. This contract ended on 6/30/2023.”

“Process to review the form 990 after completion by the preparer, the draft form 990 is reviewed by the accounting director and the coo/vp of finance. The final draft of the form 990 is reviewed with the audit committee. After it receives the approval of the audit committee, the final form 990 is distributed to all members of the board of directors before it is filed.”

“Organization's practice for monitoring compliance on an annual basis a conflict of interest questionnaire is completed by directors, officers and key employees and reviewed by management. Items reported are discussed with legal counsel, who advises management and the board of any required actions. The conflict of interest policy is distributed with the annual questionnaire and is also accessible on the secure director's portion of the foundation's website.”

“Compensation determination the compensation of the ceo, other officers, and key employees are set by the compensation committee of the board of directors utilizing a compensation study performed by an independent compensation consulting firm comparing similar positions in similar organizations, including review of form 990s for other organizations. Members of the board of directors have in the past received reasonable compensation for their services as members of the board of directors. A compensation study was last performed in april 2023 by smithpilot.”

“Documents the consolidated financial statements of knowledgeworks foundation and its subsidiaries are available on the knowledgeworks foundation website. Knowledgeworks foundation's form 990 is also available on its own website. The governing documents and conflict of interest policy are available upon request.”

“Organization's mission knowledgeworks vision is a future of learning where students of all races and ethnicities, incomes and identities pursue the kinds of learning experiences that enable them to uncover their passions and thrive in an evolving world. Knowledgeworks mission is to help our partners in states and schools work together to align policy and practice, reimagining what education can do through personalized, competency-based learning - and what it must do to prepare students for a lifetime of learning. Our work in schools across the country sparks new thinking about ways to prepare students for an uncertain future. We believe in personalized learning not only for students, but also for educators and leaders. With more than 20 years of experience exploring the future of learning, growing educator impact and working with state and federal policymakers, our passionate team partners with schools and school districts to grow a system-wide approach to sustain student-centered practices so that every child graduates ready for what's next.”

“Description of organization's mission we help our partners in states and schools work together to align policy and practice, reimagining what education can do through personalized, competency-based learning - and what it must do to prepare students for a lifetime of learning.”

“Significant changes in may 2023, knowledgeworks sold its remaining student loans, which totaled approximately $12,317,000 at the time of sale, to the same third party that held the rights to cash flows from the trust. The purchase price of the loans was equal to 100% of the principal balance of the loans plus interest accrued thereon of approximately $739,000. The proceeds from the sale were used to pay off the remainder of the bonds. As a result of this transaction, knowledgeworks effectively ended its student loan program.”

“PROGRAM SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS - KnowledgeWorks in Schools KnowledgeWorks has established partnerships with more than 100 school districts and state education agencies across 14 states in transforming their system from a traditional system to one that is personalized and competency-based. These school systems span the country and are diverse in size, racial demographics, and socioeconomic background. In FY23, KnowledgeWorks partnered with state education agencies in Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Utah to help stakeholders support the growth of personalized and competency-based education statewide. KnowledgeWorks also partnered with state-wide organizations in Arizona and Michigan to launch cohorts of school systems exploring new, more equitable learning structures for students and communities across the state. Collaborating with the Nevada Department of Education, KnowledgeWorks supported efforts to launch a statewide personalized, competency-based learning network. KnowledgeWorks and the state department met with all thirteen school systems to explore what state-wide supports would be most impactful in launching personalized, competency-based learning as well as the design of a Nevada Profile of a Graduate. Work in North Dakota led to a growing network of districts committed to implementing personalized learning and the development of a statewide learning continuum that will provide students with competency-based graduation pathways. Leadership teams comprised of school, state department, community-based organization individuals are now leading the planning and implementation of state-wide learning collaboratives. KnowledgeWorks partnered with the Ohio Department of Education to build staff capacity to implement personalized, whole-child approaches aligned with the state's strategic plan. In partnership with the state department, thirteen regional specialists were identified to support professional learning opportunities and coaching for teachers, principals, and district leaders. These specialists and KnowledgeWorks have co-designed and established the Ohio Personalized Learning Network. In South Carolina, KnowledgeWorks partnered with the Department of Education's Office of Personalized Learning to support a statewide network of schools and districts implementing personalized, competency-based learning. This statewide partnership increased from 15 districts in FY18 to 70 school systems in FY23 all working collaboratively to advance personalized, competency-based learning across the state. This represents a commitment from over 75% of South Carolina's districts. Work in Arizona learning communities led to the creation of Personalized Learning Institutes for school systems across the country to observe, learn, and provide feedback to the Arizona Personalize Learning Network that is transforming learning ecosystems for more than 100,000 young people throughout the state.”

“Program Service Accomplishments - Policy & Advocacy In FY23, KnowledgeWorks continued to support states and diverse education stakeholders to advance policy change and maximize implementation in service of systems transformation. The Policy & Advocacy team conducted opportunity analyses and flexibility memos for Kentucky and Ohio aligned to KnowledgeWorks' State Policy Framework for Personalized Learning and engaged in targeted technical assistance requests for state policymakers in South Carolina, Nevada, and Kentucky. Development and facilitation of leadership networks in Nevada and Ohio enhanced these technical policy supports, providing systems of support to the field as well as a focus on developing the capacity of state leaders to sustain PCBL transformation. In Nevada, KnowledgeWorks launched an Ambassador Fellowship Program in Nevada to elevate racially and regionally diverse education leaders and a Youth Empowerment Fellowship to elevate student voice. KnowledgeWorks helped local partners in Kentucky and Southwestern Pennsylvania design storytelling and messaging efforts schedule to launch in the next year to advance key messages aligned to personalized, competency-based learning. KnowledgeWorks also began efforts in Minnesota to help local partners make the case for educational transformation. KnowledgeWorks completed a series of thought leadership engagements throughout the year to elevate insights from the field and push national thinking about educational transformation. The design and launch of a Trailblazers Summit and subsequent report, Beyond the Horizon: Blazing a Trail Toward Learner Centered School Quality Systems brought together nearly 200 national leaders to imagine a student-centered future for assessment and accountability systems. This effort engaged 10 national partner organizations and helped build collaborative relationships with national civil rights organizations. The Policy & Advocacy team continued to track personalized, competency-based learning policy momentum across the country, releasing the first-ever 50-state scan of student-centered learning policies produced in partnership with the Education Commission of the States. Release of the publication, Transforming for Tomorrow, helped state policymakers focus on a narrow set of transformational policy levers to kick-start PCBL systems across their state. In addition to policy publications, the Policy & Advocacy team produced several resources to increase stakeholder engagement in educational systems transformation. In collaboration with student voice organizations across the country, the team published Learning Agenda for Elevating Student Voice which resource offers a comprehensive guide for empowering students in the education transformation process. A series of video shorts was also produced to help stakeholders understand the fundamentals of competency design and best practices for designing a competency continuum that integrates academic knowledge and essential skills. design and best practices for designing a competency continuum that integrates academic knowledge and essential skills.”

“Program Service Accomplishments - IMPACT & IMPROVEMENT In the continuing effort to support state work, in FY23, the Impact and Improvement team produced its final report on the interim formative data and shared these findings with partners in North Dakota. The team worked with the North Dakota Student Longitudinal Data System on the summative data portion of the study and received two rounds of student matched pair analysis of summative outcomes. Across Arizona, North Dakota, and South Carolina, the team led 29 continuous quality improvement capacity building sessions with districts leaders and data fellows. The Impact & Improvement team gathered, cleaned, and analyzed 17,436 implementation surveys from students and another 2,500 (approximately) from educators in Arizona, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina. Towards the goals of building the knowledge base for the field, the Impact & Improvement team completed individual data dashboards for 12 districts and presented early findings to the entire Ohio Launch cohort. The team continued to maintain and expand The Making the Case: Compelling Data, a field-facing, searchable data library for sourcing evidence and data on the positive impacts of PCBL. The Making the Case Data Library had 6,770 unique visits in FY23, up from 615 in FY22.”

“PROGRAM SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Other Services Include Strategic Foresight, grantmaking and student loan programs. Strategic Foresight - KnowledgeWorks continued to exercise national thought leadership around the future of learning through publications, partnerships and stakeholder engagements. It published two toolkits: Mapping Your Journey Toward Liberatory Education Futures and Charting a Path Toward Flourishing Futures. The former provided guidance for K-12 education stakeholders on identifying how they might take action today considering future possibilities raised by KnowledgeWorks' sixth anchor forecast. Charting a Path Toward Flourishing Futures was published in collaboration with partner Capita, an ideas lab dedicated to the flourishing of families and young children, and outlined futures thinking tools that can help leaders in the early childhood sector anticipate and initiate change. KnowledgeWorks also published a retrospective blog series, looking back at its third anchor forecast, published in 2012. KnowledgeWorks partnered with Teach for America's Reinvention Lab to research and publish Dreaming into Learning Futures, using a highly participatory process to explore trends and imagine where learning in the United States might be headed over the next 10 years. KnowledgeWorks also partnered with the University of St. Thomas and the Minnesota School Board Association to lead school board members through a cohort experience oriented toward futures thinking and advocacy. KnowledgeWorks' Strategic Foresight team continued to give presentations and to design and facilitate workshops and webinars exploring future possibilities and ways of shaping the future. The team delivered workshops at the Minnesota School Boards Association and Deeper Learning conferences and for Northmont School District and gave presentations at ASU-GSV, eCampus Ontario, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Philanthropy Ohio. The team also supported KnowledgeWorks' efforts to help state education systems and school districts transition to personalized, competency-based learning. Grant-making -The Grant making program provided approximately $2.6 million in grants and contributions to 30 organizations. Student Lending Programs - KnowledgeWorks served approximately 900 students during the fiscal year through its student lending programs.”

“Other changes in net assets unrealized loss on liability for student loan residual (155,047) amortization of discount on student loans 1,112,016 transfer from tax-exempt subsidiary - kwi 6,385,961 loss on sale of loans (686,463) total to form 990, part xi, line 9 6,656,467”

“Description:business consultants total fees:238894”

“Description:marketing/communications total fees:120022”

“Description:network consulting total fees:41330”

“Description:payroll/comp/benefits total fees:142096”

“Description:hr/training/development total fees:16907”

“Description:technology total fees:16725”

“Description:policy/advocacy total fees:604272”

“Description:data/research/evaluation total fees:542584”

“Description:teaching/learning consultants total fees:501837”

“Description:strategic foresight total fees:158622”