Plans for Future Schools

At SEED we believe every student should have access to quality educational opportunities, therefore our ultimate goal is to have the choice of SEED or SEED-like schools available to students and families in every city across the country. We frequently receive requests from policymakers and education reform leaders across the country to open SEED schools. If you are interested in talking with us about bringing a SEED school to your city, please first review the information below detailing the steps to open a SEED school. 

SEED Expansion Process

To evaluate a location’s potential for a SEED school, The SEED Foundation partners with a local foundation or stakeholder to perform a feasibility study to assess the issues and challenges of opening a college-preparatory boarding school for underserved children in the local community. By following SEED’s proven methodology (below), The SEED Foundation learns about community needs, builds strong and broad-based support, and develops a plan to help local organizations and stakeholders establish a successful school.

Opening a public boarding school is a complex process that involves long-term commitments from a diverse group of stakeholders. Based on nearly 20 years of experience, The SEED Foundation has identified six key factors for successfully establishing an urban boarding school for underserved students. The feasibility study will provide a thorough and detailed assessment of each of the six key factors.

Feasibility Study Factors

  1. Community support: SEED meets with community organizations; business, philanthropic, and religious leaders; government officials; education and non-profit stakeholders; and families to develop and evaluate the potential to develop exuberant, wide-spread support for the effort.

  2. Operational funding: SEED researches, evaluates, and tests existing and possible mechanisms to secure a long-term, sustainable stream of operational funding and assesses their potential for success.

  3. Private funding: SEED identifies, engages, and cultivates individual, foundation, and corporate funders to assess the potential to raise the significant private resources that are required to build a SEED school and support the start-up and ramp-up costs.

  4. Site selection: SEED identifies and evaluates sites that can accommodate academic, residential, and recreational facilities that SEED can develop and control.

  5. Private financing: SEED considers the potential for short-term and long-term financing, including special financing options and potential restrictions on SEED’s ability to “bank” a public contract.

  6. Leadership: SEED identifies appropriate administrative infrastructure and resources that have the capacity to produce highly motivated and skilled instructors and boarding faculty.

Activities during this feasibility phase vary depending on the needs of the local community, but will typically include extensive open-ended interviews, quantitative and qualitative research, site visits, and analysis of the opportunities and constraints of each of the factors to assess the community’s capacity to support a public urban boarding school. At the conclusion of the study, SEED will provide analysis, recommendations, and an implementation plan regarding site and funding sources, as well as draft forms of an operating budget, organization structure, and curriculum.

If you are interested in engaging SEED for a feasibility study, please contact our Expansion department for next steps.