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Press Releases

New Leadership and Upcoming Milestone

  • August 28, 2023

Major Education Group Announces New Leadership and Upcoming Milestone

 

WASHINGTON – The Center for Education Reform announced today new leadership of the Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless Education (STOP), which began in 2021 to address the shortage of educational opportunities for students confined to inadequate schooling during the pandemic and has continued to grow to reward and expand education providers that overdeliver for underserved students.

“We’re thrilled to announce Rob Blevins, leader of the 2021 Yass Prize winner Discovery Center of Springfield, MO, will be joining the team as Chief Operating Officer, and Katherine Nelligan, an accomplished educator and social scientist has joined the Yass Prize team as Director of Research,” said Jeanne Allen who oversees the organizations.

Also announced, Josephina Rago was promoted to Senior Partnership Manager, and Alex Audet is now the Director of Data and Technology.  “These individuals will help our seasoned team play a critical role in the growing effort to accelerate the adoption of education innovation and expand opportunity for each and every student in the nation,” added Allen.

Since its inception, the Yass Prize and STOP Awards Initiative have awarded more than $40 million to 84 organizations, including the coveted $1 million grand prize each year, considered the Pulitzer of Education Innovation. The work has also expanded to provide seed money to grow the supply of education options in states with new or expanded education choice programs.  This year, on September 14th, the Yass Award for Education Freedom will announce awards totalling $5 million across the states of Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma where parents are clamoring for diverse learning opportunities for their students.

“Many will say that choice isn’t an option for kids in failing schools because there aren’t enough of them,” said Yass Prize Founder Janine Yass. “Providing seed money to help education providers meet the needs of families is a major solution. We want to reward states that create sustainable pathways to give parents what is rightly theirs–the funds to choose the education that meets the needs of their students.”

After the September 14th live announcement from Washington, D.C., Mrs. Yass will be joined by Yass Prize alumni to announce the next round of 64 Quarterfinalists, which will have been evaluated by three panels of judges, including their peers, experts and Blue Ribbon leaders. Quarterfinalists receive $100,000 and will be further evaluated to be one of 32 Semifinalists, who will continue onto the finals and become part of an education and innovation accelerator where they will spend four weeks learning from experts in various sectors and prepare to deliver their final pitch. The annual competition culminates in an announcement on December 13th in New York City, in partnership with Forbes.

“The work being performed by these educators is incredible, and it should drive the conversation nationally and among all the candidates in the presidential campaign,” says co-founder Jeff Yass.  “Education equality and freedom is at the top of the list of every parent in America deprived of a great education. The best candidates will support giving parents the money the government currently allocates to find the best education for their kids. All of it. It’s their money, and they would do a better job than any bureaucracy in building a future for their kids.”

Media Contact:
CATHLEEN HEALY
202-365-4636
[email protected]

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The Yass Foundation advances the four core STOP principles: Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless education. Each year, the Foundation will reward dozens of organizations, building a growing network of innovative providers that
demonstrate these qualities in their commitment to new ideas, technologies, and approaches to learning that bring education into
the 21st century. The Foundation is powered by the Center for Education Reform (CER) in partnership with Forbes.

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy that’s behind the school system is more interested in perpetuating jobs and keeping the system in place, rather than giving children the freedom they deserve.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

The pandemic didn’t stop our families, scholars and educators from learning, growing and thriving.

Patricia Brantley
CEO,
Friendship Public Charter School

What has been created here at the accelerator is truly incredible.

We may never know how pivotal this really is for education in America right here, right now. This group of people will work together to force real change permissionlessly.

Rob Blevins
Executive Director,
Discovery Center of Springfield

I'm deeply humbled and grateful to be part of this group.

The last month has been a tremendous experience and I'm so inspired and motivated by the amazing work this group is doing. Collectively, we’re working towards a real-world goal and it’s leaving me empowered and motivated to apply what we learn.

Jeffrey Imrich
Co-Founder,
Rock by Rock

Success happens after many pivots and changes.

Michael Moe
Founder and CEO,
Global Silicon Valley

The real source of wealth in society is the human mind, not material things, because with the human mind, great wealth can be created.

Steve Forbes
Editor-in-Chief,
Forbes Media

The fact that education has become partisan is upsetting, and I just hope that this award will encourage more states to view this as a bipartisan issue.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

We realized long ago that there’s a lot of money in the system, and it’s just not directed to the children.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

If you get to the accelerator after the application process, go in knowing you already won.

The fact that you are now with a group of your peers you really get to see how world class the education profession is.

Christopher Simmonds
Principal,
CARE Elementary School

We may not agree on much of anything, but one thing that is a uniting force that we all agree on is that education opens doors, it’s the great equalizer.

Alyssa Farah Griffin
Co-Host on The View and CNN Political Commentator,

You are in a moment in history that we have never seen before.

Any of us with a disruptive idea have a shot at trying to prove something.

Randall Lane
Chief Content Officer,
Forbes Media

Entrepreneurs are people who teach us about needs we don’t know we need.

This is the fundamental basis of what we are doing.

Carl Schramm
University Professor,
Syracuse University

What is good for families is good for the school because families want great schools.

Ceci Schickel
Senior Director of Organizing and Advocacy,
Mastery Charter School

When you are trying to advance and think beyond the status quo, this can be a lonely place, because our systems are structured to do the same thing.

It is important to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who foster innovation.

Phyllis Lockett
CEO,
LEAP Innovations

I hope you all think about the fact that the impact you are having, you will never even know how widespread it is.

That’s the beauty of education, you impact lives in such a deep way.

Alyssa Farah Griffin
Co-Host on The View and CNN Political Commentator,

Remember, you are doing the work of civilization.

You are planting the seeds of a better world, despite any bad news, you’re doing great things.

Steve Forbes
Editor-in-Chief,
Forbes Media

We see the Pulitzer prizes, we see the MacArthur Genius Grants, we see the Pritzker prize for architecture.

But for the one field that drives everything, education, there is no definitive prize. The Yass Prize has filled that vacuum -- it's more than just the money. It's about spurring ideas, it's about spurring innovation. We are very very proud to be a part of it.

Randall Lane
Editor,
Forbes

We often jump to the what, without thinking with the community about the why.

Michael B. Horn
Author,
From Reopen to Reinvent

I am still processing the magnitude of this experience and so grateful for meeting each and everyone of you.

I look forward to continuing our transformative work in our communities and together.

Taylor Shead
Board Member,
Dallas Education Foundation

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