Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Every year in December, I read poetry. Poems help me slow down, listen, and think anew. Recently, I’ve been reading works by Haki Madhubuti, W.H. Auden, and Gwendolyn Brooks. These lines come from Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “Paul Robeson”: 

we are each other’s 

harvest: 

we are each other’s 

business: 

we are each other’s 

magnitude and bond.   

Brooks’ celebration of collective strength has special meaning, as the Foundation deepens our work with our partners across the field of education and beyond. I am convinced that partnership may be the thing that matters most. Whether it is collaboration between parents and teachers, schools and community organizations, or between K12, postsecondary and employers, we cannot transform learning without authentic partnership. An education system founded on principles of democratic localism depends on it.   

And wherever I go, be it the African Leadership University campus in Kigali, Rwanda, the Indiana State Board of Education, learning alongside the distinguished leaders of the Carnegie Postsecondary Commission, or with educational pathfinders from the XQ Institute, I am moved by what I hear. I am moved by the power of good partners. I am moved by people of diverse perspectives, from all walks of life, who view difference as strength. And I am moved by those who find ways to work across boundaries, to achieve a greater good.   

From all of us at Carnegie, thank you for your commitment to shape a future where millions more young people can thrive. We are enormously grateful to have you as partners in this work. 

Thank you, for being our “magnitude and bond.” 

In partnership,
Timothy Knowles
President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching