• Strengthening education leadership to improve student achievement
• Enhancing after-school learning opportunities, and
• Building appreciation and demand for the arts.

In simplest terms, our approach is to develop and test useful ideas “on the ground,” gather credible, objective evidence on what is most effective and why, and then share that knowledge with the individuals and institutions having the courage and authority to bring those effective ideas to life in ways that bring benefits to people. There are three components to this approach:

        1.  Develop innovation sites: We work closely with sites (such as states, school districts, and cities as well as non-profit organizations) to help them plan and test new approaches for bringing about the change goals to which we have mutually agreed. These sites can provide us and the broader field with insights into what ideas are or are not effective and what conditions support or impede progress.

        2.  Develop and share knowledge: In concert with our innovation site work, we also develop and spread instructive lessons through a range of research and communications strategies that can improve practice and policy in organizations that will never get Wallace grants.

        3.  Achieve benefits nationally: This is the ultimate objective of all of our work. By supporting innovative site work, pursuing relevant and useful knowledge-building activities, and synthesizing and sharing credible ideas and practices, we believe that Wallace can contribute to changing the behaviors of policymakers and practitioners in our focus areas, and thereby change the practices and priorities of institutions such as schools and arts institutions in ways that lead to measurable
benefits for people.

The success of this approach rests entirely in the expertise and close teamwork of our program, communications, and research and evaluation staff. 

Program staff provide in-depth knowledge of their fields, guide us in identifying effective organizations and places that act as our innovation sites, help analyze and identify the factors that can lead to beneficial change, and support and monitor the progress of our grantees.

Our research staff determine what research exists upon which we can build and help identify where critical knowledge gaps are. They contribute to effective program design and help assess whether proposed strategies are likely to produce the desired outcomes. They plan fresh research as necessary, including in-depth reviews of ongoing work in our most promising innovation sites, and help us monitor our progress toward our overall goals.

Communications and editorial services staff are responsible for identifying our key audiences and developing the strategies to reach them. They synthesize and translate the field-tested ideas we are developing with our sites and our research into compelling products for the identified key audiences. And they work to ensure those products are useful to policymakers, practitioners, and affected and interested citizens.