Addressing classroom equity challenges, PowerSchool also helped fund hundreds of classroom projects through DonorsChoose

PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) announced today it has disbursed more than $820,000 through its Education Fund to help new teachers enter the profession and to support completion of hundreds of classroom projects for schools in underserved communities.

Launched in July, the PowerSchool Education Fund, a multi-initiative fund, is designed to tackle critical issues in the education ecosystem, including the national teacher shortage, the diversity gap, and access to education technology and resources.

Putting More Teachers in Classrooms

The PowerSchool Education Fund aims to help address the national teacher shortage by partnering with universities across the United States to help reduce the barriers for education students to enter the teaching profession. In addition to its initial university partner, the University of California, Davis, PowerSchool will now provide funding for more than 1,740 future teachers at seven more universities: North Carolina State University, the University of South Florida, the University of South Alabama, the University of Texas, the University of Pennsylvania, Radford University, and the University of Chicago.

“We are incredibly grateful to PowerSchool for its gift in support of teacher candidates studying in the College of Education,” said R. Anthony Rolle, PhD, Dean of the University of South Florida College of Education. “The PowerSchool Education Fund will support our students’ success by helping them cover out-of-pocket expenses associated with becoming a certified teacher in Florida. We hope that this new initiative will motivate additional students to pursue careers in the education profession and to graduate with as little student debt as possible.”

Stephanie Monarrez, a first-generation college student attending the University of California, Davis’ School of Education, is one of the 1,742 future teachers the PowerSchool Education Fund is supporting. “I’m so grateful for the financial assistance to help make my dreams of becoming a 5th grade teacher a reality,” Monarrez said. “I’m looking forward to building strong student-teacher relationships and making my future classroom a reflection of the diversity of my students.”

Manal Keval is another education student at the University of California, Davis’ School of Education that the PowerSchool Education Fund is supporting. She comes from five generations of female educators and said, “I have dreamed of becoming a teacher since I was 3 years old. I want to become a teacher because I firmly believe that our public schools need more teachers of color.”

From Healthy Snacks to Sensory Cushions: Granting Teachers’ Wishes

In addition to addressing the national teacher shortage, the PowerSchool Education Fund seeks to support equitable access to education resources. This summer, PowerSchool partnered with Robert F. Smith and Vista Equity Partners to provide a $1.3 million donation to DonorsChoose to address classroom equity challenges in predominately Black schools across 10 states, building on the work of the Southern Communities Initiative to advance racial equity by accelerating the deployment of corporate resources into six southern communities that are home to half of all Black people in the country.

Recognizing the inequities across our nation’s classrooms—deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic—this gift provided a direct surge of funding and inspired others to support teachers in these classrooms. The donation fulfilled projects like quality water and healthy snacks for a pre-K classroom in Alabama, and sensory seating cushions for a classroom in South Carolina. “Making my room as comfortable as possible for my students after making it through such a difficult year is my goal,” said Ms. Myers, a teacher at Pine Grove Elementary School. “Interactive and engaging learning is my motive for this year!”

The donation to DonorsChoose meant that:

• 332 educational projects were funded to support and accelerate student learning.
• 231 teachers received the support they needed to access classroom supplies, launch new projects, and invest in their careers.
• 108 schools in low-income communities received financial resources.
• 100% of funds went to teachers and projects with predominately Black student enrollment.

“Many of these teachers were welcoming students back for the first time since the pandemic and their requests were for necessities for classroom learning and support,” said Hardeep Gulati, PowerSchool CEO. “There’s no doubt our nation’s teachers faced unprecedented challenges last year and their continued commitment to their students is inspiring. We were humbled to fulfill requests and help make the transition back to school a bit easier for these deserving teachers and their students.”

The donation supported the ongoing efforts of DonorsChoose to partner with organizations committed to addressing racial inequity in education. Across the platform, more than 77% of funded DonorsChoose projects are from schools where more than half of students come from low-income households.

“Our partnership with PowerSchool, Robert F. Smith, and Vista Equity Partners is inspiring the public to help combat educational inequity,” said Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose. “By supporting students through their classroom resources and empowering teachers to pursue their own education, this collaboration not only addresses inequity but also provides opportunities for students to see themselves as the teachers of tomorrow.”

In celebration of Giving Tuesday, PowerSchool will be providing a matching program for its employees to help various organizations that support students, educators, and families.

For more information about PowerSchool’s Education Fund, visit https://www.powerschool.com/powerschool-education-fund.

About PowerSchool

PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 45 million students globally and more than 13,000 customers, including over 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in over 90 countries. Visit www.powerschool.com to learn more.

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