Thank you to the nearly 300 guests from 15 states who attended the first Renaissance Schools Fund Symposium, “Free to Choose, Free to Succeed: The New Market in Public Education” on May 6, 2008 in Chicago.  

The Renaissance Schools Fund (RSF) is a strategic partner to Chicago Public Schools’ Renaissance 2010 (Ren10), a bold initiative to create 100 new schools of exceptional quality in Chicago’s underserved communities.  Currently, RSF has a portfolio of 65 high quality schools of choice and has raised $45 million from the business community for school start-up.  Ren10 has created a dynamic market of public education in Chicago that includes the development of innovative school models led by educational entrepreneurs and which is ensuring every child has the opportunity to access a high quality public education.

The goal of the RSF Symposium is to share key learnings from Chicago’s Renaissance 2010 initiative and the new school movement nationwide.  In doing so, we aim to assist others in efforts to offer parents public education choice and to use competition to spur innovation within school districts.

To further this dialogue, all of the written presentations from the 2008 RSF Symposium are available on this website.