Institute for Educational Leadership Inc. (IEL)

Activities

In March 2022, IEL partnered with Kaiser Permanente and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) in the Vaccine Confidence Challenge to improve students’ confidence in vaccines, as well as improve the public health system. Under this program, $5,000 grants are allocated weekly to organizations that are working toward improving vaccine rates and confidence. ¹ However, the organization must be a member of the Coalition for Community Schools to be eligible to receive the grant. ²

Education

Each year, IEL holds its National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference, where individuals, including community organizers, union activists, elected officials, school coordinators, education and health professionals, educators, advocates, and others are in attendance. The 2022 conference theme focused on racial disparities due to COVID-19 and eliminating inequities by changing all aspects of life and systems. The conference was held in Los Angeles and keynote speakers included Cindy Marten, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Education; LaShawn Chatmon, executive director, National Equity Project; Sarah Sneed, president and CEO, NEA Foundation; and employees of IEL. ³

In a press release by the Institute for Educational Leadership, the organization praised President Joe Biden and his student debt forgiveness plan, which will cancel up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for other borrowers. IEL also supports the idea of Congress increasing the Pell Grant. ⁴

Educational Policy Fellowship

In 1964, with funding from the Ford Foundation, IEL created the Educational Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP), a 10-month fellowship program for leaders that teaches equity-focused policy change. There have been over 10,000 graduates of the program. ⁵ The program operates in numerous states and the District of Columbia, and its attendees have included former North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson (D), and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor under former President Barack Obama. ⁶

Coalition for Community Schools

IEL is the lead partner and home of the Coalition for Community Schools, an alliance that consists of local, state, and national partners that promote and support community schools as the desired school model. ² IEL is the intermediary between the Coalition’s national agents and networks. IEL supports the Coalition for Community Schools and intentionally staffs the coalition to ensure both share a strategic plan. ⁷

Finances

In 2019, IEL received over $6 million dollars in government contributions. ⁸ It received approximately $1.6 million from registration fees. ⁹

Funding

In 2022, MacKenzie Scott, a novelist, billionaire philanthropist, and former wife of Jeff Bezos, contributed more than $500 million toward at least 29 different after-school programs across the nation with her then-husband, Dan Jewett. ¹⁰ Scott has given multimillion dollar contributions totaling more than $12 billion to various nonprofits. ¹¹ The Institute for Educational Leadership received an unrestricted $6 million donation from Scott, the largest private donation in IEL’s history. ¹²

In October 2022, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided IEL with $315,332 to support the National Theme School Network website that is hosted by the National Alliance on the American High School. ¹³ In May 2021, the Foundation allocated $25,000 for general support ¹⁴ and in April 2020, IEL received $20,000 to provide support for the Rise Up for Equity conference. ¹⁵

In April 2022, IEL was one of 40 grant recipients to receive part of $11 million allocated by the National Basketball Association (NBA) Foundation. ¹⁶

Grants

In 2019, IEL allocated money to a variety of organizations, with the highest amount of just over $450,000 to Cornell University. It gave nearly $300,000 to the Oasis Center, a crisis center located in Nashville, Tennessee, and just over $200,000 to Peckham, a rehabilitation center in Michigan. ¹⁷

People

In February 2022, Institute for Educational Leadership appointed Eddie L. Koen as president, who is the first Black or indigenous person and the youngest person to serve in the position. He was previously the president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio, where he launched a new Center for Social Justice. ¹⁸

From 2017 to 2020, Johan E. Uvin served as president of IEL where he created the institute’s five-year strategic plan, known as Rise Up for Equity. Prior to IEL he served at the U.S. Department of Education as Senior Policy Advisor, Deputy Assistant Secretary, and Acting Assistant Secretary in the Obama administration. ¹⁹ He is the executive director of the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute. ²⁰ Prior to his leaving IEL, his total compensation was $291,581.