Gates Foundation Forges Education Partnerships

SEATTLE (AP) — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping traditional school districts in nine cities including New Orleans to form partnerships with charter school organizations.

These collaborations are supposed to help both kinds of schools learn from each other improve student learning.

The collaboration agreements announced Tuesday will help schools in Baltimore, Denver, Hartford, Conn., Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans, New York City and Rochester, N.Y.

A different partnership agreement has been signed in each city, but most will focus on things like access to buildings, opening charter schools to students with special needs or those who are still learning English, and aligning school curriculum to the new national academic standards.