Bill gates sr. And i know you and everyone at the foundation is feeling that loss. He was a tremendous man who i think many of us in philanthropy had a chance to get to know in various ways but not as much as you probably did. I think we feel his loss greatly. Let me just express that loss to you. Thank you so much. He was a remarkable human being and a remarkable humanitarian. Thank you. Indeed. So we are here at this unprecedented moment, and that word gets overused but it is kind hard to imagine that we could have as many crises facing us all now. We have got obviously the health crisis. Er with got the economic crisis. We are going through a reckoning on social justice. Many of us are experiencing the wildfires and other signs of Climate Change that are striking the country. And thats only the tip of the iceberg. Your foundations care about some of these issues and working deeply on them and of course education is why we are here and it is central to what you all do. How do you weigh all of that in this time when there are so many problems to tackle . I am curious how your foundations have thought about this as this moment has been unfolding. Carol, can i start with you. Sure. You know, i think that allen and i would agree that the problems right now existed before all the crises. Anything the crises have just shined a spotlight on them. Both of our foundations have been addressing education and inequities, both are concerned with the environment and the health and welfare of our country. So for us, you know, i think its been covid hit and we immediately responded with an emergency fund. And, you know, 35 million Immediate Response for, you know, our grantees and for some new grantees and then the family in total has given an extra 180 million to the covid crisis. But as the summer unfolded i think that we began to look at how do we even further amplify work that were already doing . You know, how do we ensure that inclusion is part of everything were doing . How do we listen better, hear better, and respond better . Allen . Yeah, i would agree with that, you know, this has certainly shown a spotlight on this and its impossible to overstate the disruption and the devastation thats happening across the country. But obviously communities of color and communities experiencing poverty are, you know, bearing the brunt of a lot of this devastation and disruption. You know, were seeing unprecedented loss and learning loss in social, Emotional Development loss in our students, if you just look at the most recent estimates from nwea who administers the map test, theyre projecting that only that students in reading are returning to school, this Current School year, with only 70 of the learning gains that you would typically expect. And in mathematics its often projected at below 50. So when you just take a step back and say, all right, what really do you make of this . I completely agree with what caryl said, many of these challenges existed before the pandemic and before the reckoning of ration and social injustice. And, you know, at the Gates Foundation we work, obviously, on health, globally, and education domestically and the work that were doing in health is really focused on a Rapid Response to covid and weve invested quite a bit of resources to accelerate therapeutics and to accelerate vaccine development. And in the u. S. Its very much in education focused on addressing some of the immediate needs like the Digital Divide and helping systems grapple with. And engage and providing Technical Assistance as theyve worked to get their students connected to the devices so that they even had a chance to learn. But also looking at curriculum, getting the curriculum and the providers who develop those things to get them digitally enabled and to expand those things, tutoring, those types of things have been our immediate term priorities but again the systemic issues in our Public Education system are will continue to be our focus and were seeing opportunities just to continue, but also to make some shifts, which were in the process of looking at now, given this current context that we believe might allow us, with our partners, to accelerate impact. Would you be willing to give us insight on what those shifts are and caryl, i have will come back to you. Sorry, we have not decided. Were reaching out and have been engaging with partners and experts in the field just to say, all right, so amidst this crisis how should we be thinking about the next decade of our work in education and so we started with listening, communities, teachers, partners, educators, entrepreneurs, for profit providers who, you know, mcgrawhill, et cetera, who provide curriculum resources. Were in the process of digesting those and developing ideas and concepts and anticipate by the end of the year we will have made some decisions on what that might look like for us. Were going to come back and ask you those questions. Yes, well be ready. Caryl, what were you going to say . I was just going to add the other piece beyond the curriculum, the whole fact of social support. Its one of the things that we are focusing on right now. You know, we know that school represents normalcy for children. You know, you go to school, thats your schedule. And kids adjust well to that. And we also know when theyre at school theyre surrounded by a lot of adults who can know when something is not right. Now a teacher is being asked to try to see that to a screen, that in and of itself is problematic. We have kids who have been out of class for six to seven months. We have others its been two or three months and others whove had no interruption in learning whatsoever, going back to teachers in the fall who have never faced that before. We have kids who have experienced illness or death in the family. We have kids who have had their geography changed because it was safer to live elsewhere. Many of them have parents who have lost a job. Economic situation has changed. And so the Psychosocial Support that might normally see where a child is in trouble are not there at a time when theres extreme pressure on that child and unfortunately as were going through it, the teachers going through it, now i saw in the wake of the storms in texas a few years ago i remember being in a first grade classroom the first time it rained. And watching a group of first graders immediately go under their desks just because it was raining and it was like a lightbulb went off of theres more that happens here for a child and that we have got to find ways to ensure that psycho social support otherwise theyre not going to digest the curriculum support at all. Im curious how youre both thinking about what you can do to influence policy. Obviously thats where a lot of the change in education comes from. Is that changing in any way because of this crisis in the moment were going in, or is it about the same . How are you weighing that . Well, ill jump in. You know, we policy is so key in education, and, you know, weve been investing in Public Education, early learning, k12, post secondary education for almost two decades. And, you know, we have a particular perspective on this, in that i dont see that its philanthropys role to set policy. But funders, i think, have a central role that they can play and we believe this and will continue to do this and double down amidst this crisis. And i think maybe theres four things that kind of summarize this perspective. I think one is we can help decisionmakers have access to quality evidence and information in the related analysis that they need to understand how to make good decisions but also to understand how their decisions are impacting the students and the families, that we all want to see thrive in our public systems. We can also invest in innovation to see if new approaches can have an impact on students, a dramatic impact. So, you know, youre seeing that unfold now. Theres a grand experiment happening in education, and, you know, one of the things that we see as our role, although clearly behind the eight ball because this was unexpected, is to be able to look at that innovation thats happening, you know, how do you engage students, and how do you try to address their socialemotional needs as well as their academic needs, in remote, hybrid learning settings . So our ability to see how those approaches are working, and what of that, that can work, can then be perhaps considered for scale, and additional funding is a second element there. Obviously using our voice and platforms to highlight ideas and approaches that we see are working. And then i think, you know, finally supporting organizations that can help engage stakeholders to make sure that their voices are heard, student voice, community voice, parent voice, and to have that also be at the center of policymaking decisions, you know, is really key. And so we see that as a role for philanthropy and its a role that weve played and will continue to do that even in this unprecedented time where you have this incredible sense of urgency to help everyone make good decisions with the best information thats out there. I will all of that. Yes, please. I think the only piece i might add to it also sing the other change in policy is youve seen various sectors coming together on policy, which is kind of interesting. The response to covid, where the marketplace, the philanthropic sector and the government sector, all three coming together around asking questions, but i think in previous years have been asked more independently. Yeah. One of the most exciting covid responses i thought was with ken ginalt and Rachel Karlson did with stop the spread, with their bringing together getting Corporate Leaders to, you know, make respirators when they never made them before, asking Government Policies to enable that, philanthropy underwrite the transition so they can get that going. You know, i think it was a really interesting solution. And you see this same action, more ceos spoke out this summer about racial unrest than ive ever seen before, that there is an intersection now between philanthropy and the other sectors on those policies. Thats a really important point. For those of you who didnt catch that, stop the spread is this effort caryl is talking about thats important to retool and rework things. You both have a long history of thinking about your foundations about data, accountability, measurement, making sure we know what works, allan you were talking about the role of information where its harder for groups to do the measurement they used to do. I know for us weve been looking at evaluation and then were also looking at how that information gets out. So its two parts to your question. On the evaluation side, you know, all of us, i think, have had our consciousness raised this summer and we clearly are taking a new look and saying, are we evaluating the right things, are we measuring efficiency or effectiveness . How are we really measuring impact, not just completion of a project . And were really taking an even deeper look, although we have a long history of serious evaluation at the Walton Family foundation. On the other side of getting that information out, we believe that journalism plays a really significant role in informing the public. And we have a long time invested in journalism and we are doubling down on that right now. We believe it is very important that parents have access to accurate information, subject matter of interest to the public gets out there, that the learning, of the research that all of us are undertaking gets shared in credible ways so people can make the right and their own decisions on things. So one of our responses is a significant investment in journalism right now. I second that. Allan . Were obviously very committed to data and measurement and information and how you translate that into insights that help stakeholders, whether thats communities, teachers, students, parents, policymakers, et cetera, make a good sound decision, with the best possible information out there. So, you know, were continuing along that path. That is just part of who we are at the Gates Foundation. I will say that theres been a lot of precovid a lot of questions about measurement and the forms of measurement, standardized tests and how they tie to accountability. You know, weve been listening to that. And really as just part of this ongoing dialogue and effort to engage communities, to hear, to really unpack this a bit. And to be true to our belief that we believe in data, and measurement, and the types of constructs that help us get Important Information about our Education System, whether thats formative or summative tests or teacher surveys, et cetera, and try to unpack that from so then what do you do with that information and how does that get tied to policy actions . Which i think theres a lot of energy and a lot of polarization in our country about. This idea that you take this information, and you tie high stakes accountability to it. So were taking the opportunity and the time to say, look, we really need to continue to have measurement data, and to get the information we need to get better in our Education System to serve our students and communities appropriately and c equitiablely, and lets really engage and have a real conversation with all voices at the table about the types of policy actions that you might link to that data and that information. Its really important. Throughout this conversation youve both talked about equity issues. And certainly its on all of our minds, and certainly all of philanthropy, theres been record sums donated, more has been donated already this year, specifically for Racial Equity than in the past 11 years, which is as long as we all have history of it. And certainly the year is not out. So i am curious, how are you thinking about Racial Justice issues in your education programs, are other foundations coming to you too to talk about those issues . How is that changing in philanthropy from your perspective . You know, for us we believe that, you know, Racial Injustice has played out in our Education Systems for decades. So this isnt a new issue. And the current context has just put a spotlight on something that many of us knew and many of us have personally experienced in our lived experience. And so, you know, our focus will continue to be on how do we make our Education System equitable, both on the opportunity side, but also on the outcome side . And, you know, we think that whatever that those strategies are that we all take that care about this, and work on it, that we will always have to have better information and data. We will always have to have evidencebased solutions that help us identify what policies can reenforce and drive the types of outcomes and actions that will make our system work better for everyone, but also to close the gaps that we see play out in an unfortunate way. And so were committed to those types of things, and to be looking at the not only the policy constructs and the data constructs, but also how education is financed and funded, and what are the models and innovations were seeing across the country that we think can help get better better better, you know, outcomes. But our core is also just focused on instructional supports and we are going to double down on that because in any high performing Education System youve got to have those. And it just doesnt work if you dont have high quality aligned coherent instructional systems that allow teachers and students to do their best work with no exceptions. And i have to imagine understanding that now because theyre realizing how difficult it is. Caryl . Similarly, you know, we are definitely doubled down on teacher preparation, teacher instruction and ensuring that the person at the front of the room has the tools with which to teach and the skills with which to use the tools. But also that we recognize that children learn differently that we need to have a school choice, that we have to listen to parents, we have to understand, also, that the american has changed, also the Research Tells Us theyre actually optimistic and that they see the potential to achieve an American Dream but their dream is not 2 1 2 kids and a white picket fence. We have to be willing to adjust our system to address that, you know, and one of our i really do believe that if we solve the problems of education we solve the problems of the world because our children will solve them and we have a responsibility that education is a right, not a privilege in this country and yet were not delivering it in equitable terms. The good news of a crisis, if there is one, a silver lining, is that, you know, social unrest brings change and so not only is there a spotlight, but theres a window and i think for all of us now it is a time to look at what what is different, what have we learned, kind of learning along the way of responding, sharing that learning. I think that one of the changes ive seen in the past six or seven months is how often were reaching out to one another, and recognizing that none of us have the answer, and that theres probably not a singular answer, but the collaboration is going to bring us there. And i think thats really exciting and again coming back to what i said to the last question, that intersection of bringing the marketplace, government and philanthropy together, perhaps we will arrive at better solutions. I think youre right. And philanthropy hasnt always been as good as collaborating and now im seeing much, much more of that and lets hope that that is one of those silver linings. And im curious as you look ahead and youre thinking about what is that we think we were just talking about how young people with good education are going to be the ones who are going to really solve our problems. But what is it that as educators, and even in philanthropy, how do we prepare this next generation of learners, what are the things that are most crucial and how do we think about that in these very Uncertain Times . You know, obviously Critical Thinking skills, its not as much about the fact as how yo