Education just got a little richers. Bill Gates has opened his pockets to a tune of 2.3 billion dollars in an effort to prime the education pump for high-school and post-high school students. Here's a story at the Boston Globe on Gates education largesee.

Bill Gates raised some hackles with his withering assessment of American high schools, but at least the billionaire founder of Microsoft is putting his money where his mouth is. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $2.3 billion since 2000 in new visions of education, with smaller schools and more personalized instruction to prepare young people for the working world and post-high school learning.

The foundation has programs in 42 states and the District of Columbia; it supports more than 1,500 high schools -- about half totally new and the others redesigned. Its three scholarship programs, designed to fill tuition gaps left by other grants and aid, have assisted more than 10,000 students.

At one of its schools, the Truman Center in Federal Way, about 20 miles south of Seattle, 12 teacher/advisers tend 208 students -- helping them figure out what they care about and how to pursue it. Two days a week are set aside for job-shadowing and internships in the real world.


Other's following the story at Teaching and Developing Online and This Week In Education.