The "big three" in power philanthropy

E.D. Kain's American Times blog at Forbes, examines the role of the "big three" power philanthropists, Gates, Broad and Walton, in driving current school reform policies. His  2-part series begins with "The Deep Pockets Behind Education Reform." Kain responds to an earlier Think Progress piece by Zaid Jilani which focuses primarily on ultra-right power brokers like the DeVos family.

Any discussion of education philanthropy is incomplete without mention of the “New Big Three” as a triumvirate of sorts. It’s true that the other players Jilani mentions have a role in the education debate, but the “New Big Three” are the game changers.

For all the money floating around, even the powerful Gates Foundation has met with more failures than successes. Time and again Gates has changed course, shifting from a focus on small schools initially, to testing and a focus on teacher compensation more recently.