Barbara Cervone had an important job. In 1994, she stepped down from her position as an associate director of the Rhode Island Community Foundation to take a job coordinating a $500-million grant from Walter H. Annenberg to improve American schools, known as The Annenberg Challenge. At the time, it was the largest such grant in the country.

For Cervone, who has been involved with educational reform throughout her working life, it seemed like a dream job.

But she found herself increasingly unhappy with an educational philosophy that believed that testing, uniform standards and punitive measures were the best ways to improve schools. She began to feel out of place at meetings of education policy makers and elected officials. So, in 2001, Cervone left Annenberg to start a nonprofit organization called What Kids Can Do, which celebrates the accomplishments and contributions of students.

“I left [Annenberg] feeling disconnected from the lives of kids,” Cervone said. “I was out of sync with the idea that the most important thing to know about a school, or a student, was the test score.”

What Kids Can Do focuses on student accomplishments through its Web site ( www.whatkidscando.org) and as a nonprofit book publisher. The Web site includes projects such as “Inside Out: How A School Turns Itself Around,” a report by students at Central High School in Providence about efforts to make their school better.

The publishing arm’s projects include Fires in the Bathroom, advice for teachers from high school students, and its follow-up, Fires in the Middle School Bathroom. Providence students also contributed to Pass It On, interviews by students with mentors who mattered to them. Among the other titles from What Kids Can Do are Forty-Cent Tip, stories of immigrant workers in New York City, and First in the Family, advice about college from first-generation students.

This week, Cervone became 1 of 15 national winners of The Purpose Prize, an award designed to recognize social innovators over the age of 60. Six of the Purpose Prize winners received $100,000. The others, including Cervone, received $10,000. The prize is awarded by Civic Ventures, whose goal is to engage older workers as a force for social change, and financed by Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation.

“Many of us are connected to an institution, with all the problems, and the advantages, that can mean,” said Cervone, 61. “When I left Annenberg I wanted to spread my own wings, rather than make my mark through an institution. . . I find it endlessly entrepreneurial, even though [What Kids Can Do] is a nonprofit. I’ve had to learn to think like an entrepreneur. I’ve had to learn a whole lot about marketing and communication.”

Cervone works out of her house in Barrington, although What Kids Can Do is national and even international in scope. What Kids Can Do has an annual budget of between $450,000 and $500,000, most of which comes from foundations. The $10,000 from the Purpose Prize, Cervone said, will go back into the organization.

Jim Emerman, director of the Purpose Prize, said the awards are designed to recognize and publicize the phenomenon of “encore careers,” in which people switch jobs in mid-life, or later, often into nonprofit fields. The first Purpose Prizes were awarded in 2006, which happens to be the year the first baby boomers turned 60.

“The idea is that we have a huge reservoir of experience and creativity and knowledge from people who under conventional circumstances might be retired,” Emerman said. “But we find there are millions of people who are interested in careers of social innovation.”

Emerman said the idea is hardly restricted to baby boomers — one Purpose Prize winner was 91 — but the boomers dominate thanks to their sheer numbers. “So many baby boomers are now moving into their 60s,” Emerman said. “Improvements in medicine mean they enjoy better health and longevity, and they’re not always ready to move politely to the sidelines.”

The Purpose Prize receives more than 1,000 nominations each year, Emerman said, and goes through a six-month review process to determine the winners. This year’s jury included Sherry Lansing, former chair of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, actor Sidney Poitier, journalist Cokie Roberts and former presidential adviser David Gergen.

Emerman said the jury is looking for people whose stories will inspire others, and for people whose work has had an impact. Cervone, he said, had already reached a powerful position in the philanthropic world, but still realized she was not accomplishing what she wanted in terms of affecting the lives of kids. What Kids Can Do, he said, gives a voice to a population that’s constantly talked about, but seldom gets to speak for itself.

As for Cervone, she said she has no regrets. “I feel lucky,” she said. “There’s not a moment when I say ‘Oh, gosh, I wish I didn’t do what I’m doing.’ ”

asmith@projo.com