As we look toward the horizon of innovation and the subsequent rise in diverse school models, we are excited to announce the Learning Innovation Fund and our first grant program A Big Push for Small Schools, an initiative that taps into the rich legacy of microschools and reimagines them as the pillars of modern-day learning. These small school communities are redefining the way students learn.

The Vision Behind the Fund

At the heart of the Learning Innovation Fund lies a shared vision – to unlock the true potential of education by creating a place for all learners. This initiative envisions a future where every learner’s unique journey is nurtured, and where innovative, impactful education is accessible to all. The fund’s mission is to amplify the impact of innovative models, that are diverse and sustainable and empower learners for life.

With a rich history of leading educational advocacy strategy and fostering innovation, our team at Getting Smart stands uniquely prepared to spearhead this transformative initiative. Our wide range of experience and deep understanding of education dynamics, combined with a network of thought leaders and visionaries, allows us to curate an environment where innovation flourishes. We’ve witnessed the power and success of many different microschool models and believe in their potential to revolutionize education. Over the next few years, the Learning Innovation Fund will feature many more grantmaking partnerships all focused on creating new equitable opportunities for all learners. 

A Collaborative Endeavor

The Learning Innovation Fund is not just an initiative; it’s a testament to the power of collaboration. The funding for this first grant program is led by the Walton Family Foundation. As we continue to expand our impact, we enthusiastically welcome and are actively seeking additional funding partners who share our vision and want to join us in propelling education into a brighter future. We are also seeking evaluation partners, technical assistance providers and leaders interested in joining a small-school community of practice. 

Grant Opportunity

Imagine the potential when vision meets resources. The Learning Innovation Fund presents a golden opportunity for educators, innovators, and administrators of small schools to bring their innovative dreams to life. With up to 20 grants ranging from $75,000 to $250,000, this initiative aims to accelerate the impact and scalability of microschool models, igniting a ripple effect of positive change. 

Grantees will benefit from a comprehensive ecosystem of support. Collaborate with evaluators, work alongside technical assistance and coaching providers, and join a grantee network that nurtures innovation. This fund isn’t just about financial support; it’s about cultivating a community of change-makers. Beyond grants, this initiative will also include a platform for storytelling, case studies, and community conversations. By amplifying awareness of small school potential, we’re not just shaping education; we’re changing perceptions and inspiring new paths of learning.

Who Should Apply

We welcome innovative small-school leaders with transformative ideas, poised to make waves. 

We’re looking for diverse national models across the K-12 spectrum that utilize various funding methods, be it private, public, or ESA-funded models. Our selection criteria emphasize geographic diversity, ensuring that urban, suburban, and rural areas are all represented. We are interested in high-engagement learning models ready to scale or replicate. Above all, our priority is to support models that cater to historically underserved communities. If this aligns with your expertise or that of someone you know, find more details and the application process here.

A Call to Action

Join us in this transformative journey of education. If you know passionate small school leaders who could benefit from this grant, we urge you to share this exciting opportunity with them. Let’s collectively amplify the reach and impact of small schools, ensuring that every learner gets the education they truly deserve. Sometimes, the smallest shifts lead to the most significant transformations. Let’s make a big push, together!

The post Big Push for Small Schools Grants appeared first on Getting Smart.

Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing leadership and organizational culture tips that we have gleaned from our own experiences, the experiences of the Getting Smart team, and the experiences of our partners. The work we are all collectively embarking on, providing powerful learning experiences for all students, is incredibly important and we can’t do it alone. We need strong, healthy leadership and organizations if we want to achieve our goals which is why we think focusing on developing strong leadership and organizational culture is so important.

The start of a new year is a great time to take a personal, team, and organization pulse and set intentions which will help carry you throughout the year. One helpful exercise for all organizations to go through is to reexamine both the organization’s “why” and each team member’s personal “why”. Going through this thought process is beneficial on the personal and professional level as it helps remind us of exactly why we are doing this work.

Finding Your Personal Why

If you haven’t done so already, watch Simon Sinek’s TEDxPuget Sound talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” and read his book “Start With Why” for an excellent discussion on digging into why you do what you do, and how that translates into inspiring others. In both the video and his book, Sinek describes the WHY as: “What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?” He believes, and we agree, that you should answer these questions because it is from this understanding and framing that you not only find motivation, purpose, and inspiration for yourself, but it’s also how you motivate and inspire those around you to achieve your organizational mission and goals.

The “Start With Why” book and website both have many tools and resources for how to get started with this exercise, and we highly recommend reading them. But one way we have found to quickly get started is to carve out reflection time individually, and then with your team. For this step, simply focus on the “why” as an individual and leader, not your organizational why. We recommend that you first take some time to answer the questions above by yourself, reflect on them and how they shape you as a leader. You can go one step further and check out Sinek’s book, Find Your Why which “picks up where Start With Why left off. It shows you how to apply Simon Sinek’s powerful insights so that you can find more inspiration at work — and in turn inspire those around you.”

Once you know your why, try this out with your team. Perhaps center a staff meeting around this discussion and be transparent with your own responses. As a team we’ve found that understanding each other’s why has been an important relationship builder. Knowing what drives someone can help cater your interactions and prioritize work with and for them that is aligned to their why.

Want to know what drives some of the Getting Smart team members? We asked this question and here’s what a few of our colleagues had to say:

• I get out of bed in the morning partially because a 3-year-old needs breakfast, but mostly because there are young people who need us to make this work happen. There are poeople whose lives are affected every single day for something that CAN and SHOULD be fixed. We all agree on our team that Education may be one of the world’s greatest problems and can be one of the biggest changes makers if we can get it right.
• My why: Along my journey, I have been provided with relationships that supported my stumbles, dusted me off, provided encouragement to make excellent mistakes and partnered in countless celebrations of growth. My why is simple – increase the capacity of others and design opportunities that open doors for people to experience the same “gift” I have been afforded.
• My why: Leveraging and amplifying the voices of those that need to be heard.
• What’s your belief? I believe in the power of people working together towards a common good. Our team is rooted in our mission of powerful learning and equity for all. That allows us to ban together, with our different experiences and expertise to make an impact and help other organizations do the same.
• My why: I have been fortunate enough to have incredible learning experiences both in school and in my career, but I know there are many people who come from similar backgrounds as mine who do not (or have not) had the same opportunities, and they should. Ensuring they have rich and rewarding opportunities in all they do is my why.

After you and your team have gone through your personal “why”, it’s time to take a look at the organizational “why”.

Finding Your Organizational Why

Most organizations focus first on the what, they have a clear sense of what work they are doing but often forget to start with the why. While it is important to be clear on what type of work you are doing and for who, it is vital to understand and have a consensus on why. For Getting Smart we have seen the what and who shift in our work as the education world changes. We are constantly adapting our work to meet the needs of partners, and always do what we can to best serve students. We are able to be nimble because we have been crystal clear that our why is access to a great education for all.

Your why should become a company manifesto that drives your decisions, guides the course of your work and allows for reflections on how well aligned your team and work is to your why. One of the manifestos our team has appreciated and adapted our own from is Brene Brown’s Leadership Manifesto from her Daring Greatly book.

Why This Matters

We believe finding your “why” matters as an individual and as an organization because it gives you a sense of purpose, and helps fuel your work. This is especially true in the education space because this work is hard. We are all working towards ensuring the best outcomes for all students and that can honestly be challenging at times. But, if we stay focused on what drives us to this work, why our organizations exist and how we as individuals who make up a larger team, fit into that picture we can not only accomplish our goals but we can also find more joy in doing it because we understand our purpose. As such, this is not just a beginning of the year exercise, but one we think should be completed several times throughout the year so you can keep the “why” ever consistent in your mind, and let it serve as a reminder when the days get tough.

Our next post will focus on moving from the why to identifying your, and your team’s, personalities and strengths and how you can intentionally work to maximize the individual talents of each member of your team.

For more, see:

• Cultivating the Culture of Creativity
• Organizational Learning and Collaborative Structures

Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly Smart Update.

The post Improving Organizational Culture: The What vs. The Why appeared first on Getting Smart.

Personally, food is my love language. Its how I show people I love them and breaking bread with someone is how I feel connected. Meeting local growers at the farmers market on the weekend makes cooking even more enjoyable. From the time my daughter could stand, she joined me in the kitchen and is learning about how to eat healthily and appreciate where our food comes from. I have long appreciated community and school gardens but worried that they often didn’t connect to student learning and create a lasting impact.

When I heard about the work of Big Green I was intrigued and reached out to Kate Waller, who manages their national growth to learn more.

Big Green is ”building a national school food culture that promotes youth wellness.” Through food literacy programs and a network of Learning Gardens, students, parents and teachers are connected through robust food culture. They are currently located in seven cities in the United States, focused on underserved schools. Big Green Learning Gardens are a wonderful example of place-based education that connects community and schools with a focus on sustainability, equity and access.

Their gardens, built in partnerships with schools are ADA accessible, inviting and exciting for students, teachers, and parents. In fact, in the schools in which they operate, they have seen a 22% increase in parent involvement because of their ability to volunteer in the learning gardens. Gardening and growing food have created a bridge for parents who may not otherwise have felt like they had a place in their children’s school.

Big Green builds Learning Gardens that are “dynamic outdoor classrooms and productive edible gardens”. Because they appreciate that each school and community is unique, their gardens are customized for each location. Their gardens are 19 inches tall, allowing children to easily access the beds at eye level. With education at the center of their work, they also ensure the gardens include seating and share to make them attractive places for outdoor lessons.

At each school site, a garden educator works with teachers to implement K-8 health and nutrition-based curriculum based on the science of growing of food. In high school the focus shifts to a real food lab where students design and operate a food-based business using produce from the garden.

Big Green was started seven years ago and was the brainchild of Kimball Musk. After attending the French Culinary Institute, Musk knew he wanted to incorporate food into his profession but was not sure in what capacity. He was living in New York when 9/11 happened and was able to cook for the rescue workers for weeks. It was the way he was able to serve his community and it created a profound calling for him to use food as a vehicle to bring communities together.

After moving to Boulder, Colorado he started a restaurant group that was doing “Farm to Table” cooking before it was popularized in the United States. Musk saw a need to support building school gardens based on accessible design standards. He started Big Green as a way to build sustainable programs with schools with a focus on equity and access. Many of the school garden programs today are spearheaded by one staff member at a school that has a passion, but when staffing transitions happen the gardens often go unattended. There has largely been a disconnect between the garden and school curriculum as well. Musk and his team at Big Green set out to change that.

When Big Green starts work in a city they spend about a year meeting with nonprofits, schools, businesses and city leaders. The first step to working in a new city is to secure $250,000 in Seed Funding. This allows Big Green to conduct a 1,000-hour Foundational Seed Process that includes a Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study. However, it goes beyond numbers to build strong relationships with nonprofits, school districts, and donors. This process is key to their work because it allows Big Green to create all of the infrastructures to build an impactful and sustainable non-profit in each city.

Big Green is aiming to set up 100 school sites per city they are working in. They hire a team of people in each city that includes an executive director, program managers, project managers and garden educators that will work directly with the schools and gardens.

Big Green currently has 550 school gardens in seven cities, and hope to be in 10 cities in the next few years. They are reaching half a million kids a day in their Learning Gardens.

One way to join the movement is participating in Plant a Seed Day on March 20, 2019 by planting a seed in a local garden, your home, school or somewhere in your community.

The post Learning Gardens Provide Equity, Access and Great Food appeared first on Getting Smart.

It’s my mission to ensure that all students have access to high quality personalized learning options. Technology can help us get there faster and bridge the divide that too many students still face.

The innovative use of technology allows educators to reconfigure the traditional K-12 classroom and redesign schools to create personalized learning solutions that better serve all students.

As a board member at the Foundation for Blended and Online Learning (FBOL) and as COO of Getting Smart, I am thrilled to work with a network of impact-oriented schools and educators across the U.S. in helping to guide the evolution of schools, and with it, the future of learning.

Technology Greatly Enhances Learning Flexibility

Blended and online education allows students to learn at their own pace and on terms that are far more flexible than the pedagogical methods of the past permitted. My own academic journey was aided by the availability of flexible, technology-enabled courses. And just as I have benefitted from the creative use of technology in education, I want to ensure that current and future generations of students have similar opportunities available to them.

Educational philanthropy has a pivotal role to play in increasing the access students have to the latest high quality edtech tools. At FBOL, our Innovative Educator grants are awarded to classroom leaders who are experimenting with inventive practices and programs to overcome achievement gaps through tech-enabled personalized learning. And our scholarships recognize the achievements of students who have graduated from public and charter schools who embrace technology to improve educational experiences and outcomes.

I believe that students who have access to blended and online programs develop habits that inspire them to become lifelong learners—not just good students.

My work in learning design has given me an in-depth perspective on how the effective adoption of technology can shape the classroom of the future. I know the current level of personalization that learning technologies permit will pale in comparison to the innovations ahead of us; we’ll develop assessment instruments that enable us to access an unprecedented level of information about academic proficiencies and weaknesses, which can be represented and analyzed more efficiently than today. Tools also will be created that allow for more meaningful interactions between educators and students regarding academic progress, social and emotional learning, and overall success outcomes.

Technology Breaks Down Barriers and Borders

Increased interaction will be a core component of the future classroom. Children in blended and online learning programs already benefit from top-rate educational materials that students in more traditional schools may not be able to access. As technology moves beyond being merely a vehicle for content distribution, however, something amazing is happening: we’re creating an extended learning community where students can benefit from the curiosity and ingenuity of their peers—no matter how far apart they may be from one another.

Imagine a student at a big-city school collaborating on a history project with another child who is located in a more remote setting. Or the 4th-grader who aspires to be an astronaut getting feedback on her science fair entry from a NASA engineer. And the integration of state-of-the-art technologies such as VR and AR into the classroom will take learning to an even higher level. What if an elementary school art class no longer had to settle for reading about the rich cultural treasures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? What if they could virtually tour the ancient city of Petra, and afterwards discuss it with students based in Jordan? Technologies such as these will allow those children to access immersive educational experiences from thousands of miles away—experiences that were the stuff of science fiction just a few decades ago.

That said, I’m excited about what the future holds. I’m confident that the innovative use of technology in our K-12 schools and classrooms will further increase engagement and play a key role in fostering student equity. It’s an honor for me to contribute to the mission of FBOL, and I look forward to seeing the impact our scholarship recipients and grantees will make on both education and industry.

For more, see:

• Fueling a Vision of Student-Centered, Personalized Learning through Student Voice
• What Policies and Practices Can Make Learning Personal for All?
• Personalizing Online Language Learning
• 6 Emerging Technologies Supporting Personalized Learning
• The Problem With Responsible Students

Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update.

The post Designing the Classroom of the Future: Technology as a Force Multiplier appeared first on Getting Smart.

This Smart Bundle was published by Getting Smart in partnership with EdSurge and Project Unicorn. The content is part of a series on interoperability that features case studies from the perspective of educators and administrators, as well as a series of profiles that share how companies are thinking, planning and guiding their product development process to address these user needs.

Getting Smart Case Studies
Administrators often want to see student data from various tools compiled into one dashboard. Teachers want to avoid manually entering student data into several systems when getting started with a new tool and spend less time interpreting data in multiple forms. Students and parents want a clear picture of academic performance compiled in a readable format from various learning environments.

These three case studies from Getting Smart follow school districts and networks at various stages of the interoperability journey. Each one provides a look into implementation, the story of overcoming data challenges and provides a glimpse into what is next for that model. Case studies feature:

• Achievement First
• Denver Public Schools
• Providence Public Schools

EdSurge Profiles
Edtech companies should consider the interoperability issues that teachers and administrators face as they design, build and iterate on their products. Deeply understanding when and why these problems arise is the first step towards solving them.

These profiles tell the story of interoperability from the perspective of five edtech companies. Each one dives into a different approach to data sharing, highlighting how it informs the decision-making process for product development. Profiles include:

• Reasoning Mind
• Zeal
• Newsela
• Illuminate Education
• Lexia Learning

Data Interoperability Defined
Interoperability is a powerful tool to transform teaching and learning and empower parents and students with their own data. At the core of interoperability is a focus on better informing instruction and driving toward student-centered learning experiences.

Project Unicorn
Project Unicorn is an effort to improve data interoperability within K-12 education. We aim to create a community of innovators who make the broader case for secure interoperability by determining shared priorities, educating school systems and vendors about its importance and benefits, creating a demand-side push for interoperability through partnerships, and educating buyers to consider the total cost of ownership through informed comparison of vendors.

Download the Smart Bundle

This Smart Bundle is based off a Getting Smart series on interoperability. It is part of a larger collaboration called Project Unicorn, led by InnovateEDU in partnership with Getting Smart, EdSurge, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and CommonSense Media. These stories are made publicly available with support from InnovateEDU.

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The post Getting Smart on Data Interoperability appeared first on Getting Smart.

Our team spent the last year exploring the world of place-based education (PBE) through our Learning & the Power of Place campaign. The project reinforced that it’s never been easier to learn anything–anytime and anywhere.

PBE is an approach to education that takes advantage of geography to make learning authentic, meaningful and engaging for learners. PBE is defined as an immersive learning experience that “places students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences–using these as a foundation for the study of language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and other subjects across the curriculum.”

As you plan summer trips and days of exploring keep in mind the following PBE resources to avoid summer learning loss:

The basics. This guide and infographic provide an overview of Place-Based Education including definitions, benefits and examples. They feature diverse examples of Place-Based Education in practice submitted by educators all over the world.

Where to start. This guide is a quick start actionable guide for the implementation of Place-Based Education in classrooms and in communities. Actionable examples and tips are shared throughout to inform and inspire place-based opportunities across the curriculum.

Museum learning. Heading out on a trip? Know of great museums in your town? Check out how these educators and students used museums for a literature class.

National parks. If you are hitting to road and plan to visit one of the National Parks make sure to turn it into a PBE experience. As Mary says, “There’s nothing quite like a park to teach history, language arts (how to express oneself), the visual arts (ranging from the hieroglyphs to the narratives), and science (the geology of the area).”

Listen up. While you’re outside working in the yard, grab a pair of headphones and listen to our PBE focused podcast featuring perspectives of the teachers, leaders and learners with advice on how to implement PBE in your classroom, school, campus and community.

Student voice. Its important to understand why students love PBE. Hearing from students was by far our team’s favorite part of this campaign. Our partners at Teton Science Schools share what students are staying about their engaging learning experiences.

Community connections. Schools, students and teachers share from their experinces to help plant the seeds of PBE your community.

As our campaign has discussed, tor the first time in human history, we have the tools available to provide access to powerful learning experiences to every person on the planet. Through PBE, students, educators and families can extend the learning outside the classroom and create meangingful learning experiences all summer long.

For a collection of all of the contributions to the “Learning & The Power of Place” campaign from educators all over the world, see our collection of Place-Based Ed posts here. Check out the hundreds of examples of Place-Based Education in action and share your own using #PlaceBasedEd on social media.

The post Avoid Summer Brain Drain with Place-Based Learning appeared first on Getting Smart.

Through a mix of staff-led sessions, a woodworking class and inspiring playlist of songs that represented each team member, our recent Getting Smart retreat signaled that distributed leadership, high engagement learning, and teamwork are important.

As a learning design firm, we try to practice what we preach. We start each staff meeting with 20 minutes of learning. We take turns constructing a learning experience around a book, a video, or a prompt. In addition to staff development, it signals that learning is our priority.

When designing a planning process, leaders are usually focused on the pressing questions that must be answered: How to boost impact? How to boost achievement? How to deploy new technology?

Having worked with hundreds of impact organizations, we have found that how you plan may be as important as what you decide. The planning process itself is an advocacy opportunity–it signals what’s important to you. It signals who matters.

Some of the best planning questions we have seen came out of a Rhode Island planning process that helped drive their education system forward. Six questions drove the design of the planning process:

1. What if we started the planning process by listening?
2. What if we invited those most affected by public education to make decisions?
3. What if we treat plan writing like an engagement challenge rather than a writing challenge?
4. What if we train our community to think like designers?
5. What if we provide our community team with the staffing that we would need to do our best work?
6. What if we trust the decisions of our community?

When Superintendent Juan Cabrera came to the El Paso School District after years of challenge within the district, he knew starting with community conversations was a critical first step to building trust. His team actively involved all key stakeholders in the planning process. In the EPISD 2020 Strategic Plan the district outlined four main priorities and reinforced them through conversations with staff, parents and students.

Through personalized and tailored school field trips around the country, the Kauffman Foundation provides engaging experiences for community members. The planning process reflected a commitment to diversity and whole community learning to ensure that every participant felt engaged in the learning experience. For more see the recent recap of our San Diego visit.

Learner experience (LX) experts recently gathered in Boise, ID for a LX Summit that involved students, educators, administrators, community members and education advocates. Our team worked with One Stone to design an event that highlighted the expertise of all participants. Signaling the importance of student voice, the event featured workshops with students and the opportunity for students to present to the adults on LX. The school that was designed and planned by students also has a student-led board.

Our team appreciates 4.0 Schools focus on equitable planning that encourages iteration and prototyping. They’ve evolved their flagship program into a “Tiny Fellowship” that allows more people to access their coaching, capital and community without quitting their day job. This signaled the importance of diversity and meeting the demands of their stakeholders. Matt Candler, 4.0’s CEO says they are “building the future of school with, no for people.”

Designing a retreat? Building a budget? Making a plan? Think about what the process will signal to your community and stakeholders. We suggest a process that is:

• Simple: easy to understand, lots of on ramps to get involved.
• Transparent: clear objectives, easy to follow, open to suggestions.
• Inclusive: multiple ways for stakeholders to engage.

Remember, how may be as important as what you decide.

Starting a planning process? Looking to design an engaging learning experience? Getting Smart can help! Getting Smart provides advisory, advocacy, coaching and design services for schools, districts, learning organizations and foundations. To learn more visit our services site and contact Megan@GettingSmart.com.

For more, see:

• 13 Tips for Generating Interesting Blog Content
• 10 Tips For EdLeaders Feeling Overwhelmed And Insufficient
• Projects That Learn
• Cause Marketing for Educators, Eduprenuers & Students

This is an update to a post that originally ran in 2015.

Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update. This post includes mentions of a Getting Smart partner. For a full list of partners, affiliate organizations and all other disclosures please see our Partner page.

The post Your Planning Process Signals What’s Important appeared first on Getting Smart.

Part-Time Roles

Writing Coach

As part of our commitment to lifelong learning, we are looking for someone with writing and coaching/teaching experience to help our team improve how we write, storytell and communicate. This candidate should have strong education experience as well as experience writing in multiple forms such as blogs, reports, case studies, papers and books.

We are looking for someone to host a writing workshop for our team and provide continued on-demand coaching on a retainer basis for several months. To be considered for this opportunity please send an email to Caroline@GettingSmart.com that includes:

• A summary of your writing experience
• A summary of your experience coaching authors
• Your resume and/or link to your LinkedIn profile
• Your hourly rate or usual project fee

Project Consultant

To build team capacity and knowledge we are always looking for creative and talented consultants to support our project work. To learn more about opportunities and provide us with your information please complete this application.

Staff Writer

We are seeking experienced bloggers interested in researching and writing about learning innovations. This regular paid blogging position would research, curate and post blogs 1-4 times monthly and be noted as a regular contributor for GettingSmart.com. If you are interested in joining our writing team please submit a writing sample via email to Editor@GettingSmart.com with the subject line “Staff Writer”.

Teacher Blogger

Our network of teacher bloggers commit to posting 1-2 blogs monthly about lessons learned in their classrooms, writing product and book reviews and sharing best practices. To be considered for this paid blogging position please send an email to Editor@GettingSmart.com with the subject line “Teacher Blogger”.

We look forward to connecting with you!

The post Work with Us – Getting Smart is Hiring! appeared first on Getting Smart.

The Schools

American International School of Utah

AISU is a public K-12 charter school that serves about 1,400 students in Salt Lake City, Utah.

One of the focuses of the school is bringing in international students, which make up 20% of the student body and represent 20 different countries. AISU CEO / Superintendent Michael Farley says, “We created a school where students are in the driver’s seat of their learning.” With an emphasis on personalized learning and student agency, they have created a truly unique learning experience that takes place in a converted former family fun center.

Early education to grade three is true Montessori style, while Montessori principles are applied in all the other grades. Farley believes the Montessori primary builds student agency and self-management that is critical for the learner-centered 4-12 model. AISU wants to create an education system that is not just personalized in pace and path but also passion.

Wildflower Schools

This is a network of micro Montessori schools that are teacher-led and which focus on parent engagement. This soon to be international network currently has 11 sites that serve about 25 students each with two teachers in an average of 1200 square foot locations. They think of themselves as authentic Montessori implementation plus teacher empowerment. This network of microschools is supported by the Wildflower Foundation, which works to build capacity, systems, tools and research to grow and strengthen the network.

Millennium School

The Millennium School in San Francisco is a new innovation lab school targeted at the middle grades. This project-based charter runs out of a local Boys & Girls Club and currently serves 6th grade, but will grow to serve 100 students in grades 6-8. A unique feature of this program is its small group advisories where small groups of students get together to talk peer-to-peer, quietly facilitated by a teacher.

One Stone

The One Stone model started in 2008 as a community-based nonprofit led by a group of students wanting to do service learning. Using a core design thinking process, they developed after school programs focused on marketing, service, and incubating startups. With the same commitment to service and design, One Stone opened a high school in August 2016 (see feature and video). One Stone empowers high school students to learn and practice 21st-century skills through experiential service, innovative initiatives and social entrepreneurship. One Stone students make things, like the quad bike below.

During our discussion panelists and audience discussed several key elements of their models that make them truly modern Montessori.

The Details

Role of Technology

Montessori schools tend to be low tech but modern models supplement with tech or take Montessori inspiration to a whole new place.

AISU uses little technology in the Montessori primary, but is a 1:1 blend starting in 4th grade. The Millennium School is using technology to connect their students to experts and team teach. Wildflower appreciates how technology has extended teachers’ power of observation.

A visit to One Stone will highlight how technology is woven into everything they do. All students are given laptops, and they don’t take away or prohibit the use of personal devices, but rather focus on using tech responsibly. Additionally, students use various technology in their maker lab and to build portfolios that serve as their evidence of learning.

Facilities and Place

Montessori schools have always been known for their respect of place and creativity with learning environments. Most modern Montessoris are known for unique facilities and embracing their community. The AISU campus is in the center of SLC metro area and takes up 170,000 square feet. Because of the vast space their converted space afforded, AISU invested in maker spaces and performing arts theatres. To give students both a local and global perspective, AISU uses Global Learning Models, a program that embraces the Global Goals and requires students to do external investigations that bring them into the community and engage community groups.

The Millennium School focuses on real world, real self, and encourages students to think of their classroom beyond walls. Being in the heart of San Francisco has allowed their students to spend at least one day a week dedicated to community learning. As part of the their effort to deinstitutionalize learning, Wildflower is converting retail spaces in strip malls in to learning environments that are embedded into the community. In keeping with Montessori values, students are able to leave the learning environment and explore the community at anytime.

One Stone was able to create an engaging and student-centered environment from an old pathology lab in Boise, Idaho. They settled on this location because it was in the heart of downtown Boise and offered immediate connections to community partners. When their building was not quite ready at the start of school, the students and teachers co-located in community organizations such as Boise State University and JUMP, giving the students exposure to their community.

Testing

“We don’t love it, but we do it,” seemed to be the statement that most modern Montessori models would identify with. They understand the importance of assessing learning and continue to find ways to build in authentic assessment that track learning which matters to their culture.

At One Stone they admitted students without looking at grades or test scores, but had students complete the PSAT during the first week of school to assess where they were at. They also use MAP testing. The Millennium School is testing students’ cognitive ability and assessing social-emotional learning, truly testing for things they value as a model. As a public school, AISU is using MAP to track progress and also takes the Utah state assessment.

Equity

All of the modern Montessori models featured had a strong focus on equity and access. AISU’s objective is to help every student reach their potential, focus on where students may have deficits and provide extra support as needed.

As a private school, Millennium provides scholarships and has a flex tuition program. Over half their students are on some scholarship to ensure that tuition is not prohibitive to interesting students attending. They have an intentional social justice model that incorporates empathy into the learning. Because Wildflower has focused on placing schools on neighborhood boundaries, especially in low-income areas, they are able to attract a wide range of students. They are focused on training people of color, and recognize the importance of equity training with teachers.

One Stone believes in the equality of voice, and ensures that all students understand that everyone has a story. Their school focuses on empathy, and through their design process they ensure that every student’s voice is equally respected.

We can’t wait to continue learning from these Montessori models as they break new ground in what has been a respected model. Each school is meeting the needs of their students while bringing their models into next-gen learning. What other modern Montessori models have you seen? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

For more see:

• Magnolia Montessori Begins to Bloom
• Montessori: The Secret Is Out
• Microschools with Macro Impact
• Smart List: 100 Middle & High Schools Worth Visiting
• Smart List: 85 Elementary & Middle Schools Worth Visiting

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According to New Profit, “The Personalized Learning Initiative is an effort to invest in promising new approaches and technologies that can give students more agency in their own learning journey and provide teachers with tools to tailor classroom instruction to the unique needs of each student.”

The organizations and leaders selected include familiar faces in the personalized learning sphere:

• Highlander Institute, Dana Borrelli-Murray and Shawn Rubin
• imBlaze (Big Picture Learning), Andrew Frishman and Carlos Moreno
• iNACOL, Susan Patrick
• PowerMyLearning, Elisabeth Stock
• The Learning Accelerator, Beth Rabbitt
• Transcend, Jeff Wetzler and Aylon Samouha
• Valor Collegiate Academies, Todd Dickson

“We believe that investing in and catalyzing the personalized learning field can lead to bigger breakthroughs in education,” said New Profit Partner Trevor Brown, who will lead the initiative. “We are excited to be working with a visionary group of social entrepreneurs and funding partners to take bold steps in the direction of meeting every student’s needs, no matter their background or learning style.”

During this four-year initiative, each of the seven organizations will receive a grant of $1 million, and a New Profit partner will join their board of directors. Additionally, a Learning Community will be developed to “share insight across different models and practices and partner to accelerate the overall development of the field.” Joining these organizations to provide insight are existing New Profit grantees LEAP Innovations, New Classrooms and Enlearn.

For more on what we can hope to see from this initiative we reached out to the organization leaders for comments:

Aylon Samouha, Transcend:

Transcend is fired up to be part of this cohort with amazing innovators. We could not be more thrilled with our colleagues in this cohort, with the chance to benefit from New Profit’s expertise, support, and platform. We know this opportunity will help us get closer to our mission of being an R&D Engine for school model innovation in the coming years.

Todd Dickson, Compass:

We are excited to partner with New Profit, particularly because of their expertise in scaling as we explore how to best create a sharing and learning community around our SEL work, Compass. New Profit has incredible experience in helping social entrepreneurs scale their ideas and we are very fortunate to be able to work with them.

Dana Borrelli-Murray, Highlander Institute:

At Highlander Institute, we envision an equitable educational system that meets the needs of all learners in this rapidly changing and complex world. With the ultimate goal of supporting the comprehensive implementation of blended and personalized learning supports, our model engages every level of the personalized learning ecosystem – teachers, school leaders, district/state leaders, and EdTech innovators.

New Profit’s belief in our vision and model is a game-changer for our organization. We told New Profit that up until this point, we have been successful because of a mix of “hard work, gut instincts and aha moments.” We cannot wait to work with them to think about our work from a scalability lens, with a better understanding of what smart growth looks like for us.

Since our first interactions with New Profit, they have been dialed in to our specific needs and concerns, our commitment to bridging both direct impact with systems-level change. They have been honest with us about infrastructure, governance, and scope of work, and have started mapping out what four years of help will look like.

It is hard to describe what it feels like to know that we now have New Profit in our corner. We are thrilled for the opportunity, and excited to work closely with the New Profit team as well as the awesome cohort of organizations supported through this initiative.

Beth Rabbitt, The Learning Accelerator:

TLA’s mission and model are centered on collective, collaborative action; we’ve got to work together to make the dream of meeting the needs of every single kid, in every single classroom, every single day a reality. Joining the NewProfit Personalized Learning Initiative Cohort is therefore a tremendous and aligned opportunity for us to move forward with others in the ecosystem, not just within the Cohort but also across the broader New Profit network of social entrepreneurs.

Further, given our forward-learning, catalytic approach, access to flexible capital is essential to our mission. This investment will help us to maintain focus on around-the-corner issues for blended and personalized learning.

Finally, as a relatively new CEO and leader, getting the support of the New Profit team is hugely helpful. I look forward to getting terrific coaching and development through both the NewProfit team as well as via access to other leaders in the space.

Andrew Frishman & Carlos Moreno, Big Picture Learning ImBlaze:

Big Picture Learning launched over twenty years ago knowing the importance of learning that happens anytime and anywhere. During those two decades, technology has advanced in such a way that BPL — through ImBlaze, our online internship platform — can truly bring rich and meaningful youth and mentor relationships to life and to scale. We’re appreciative of New Profit’s support of our vision as we look forward to what the next twenty years will bring.

Elisabeth Stock, PowerMyLearning:

New Profit has a tremendous track record of helping nonprofits scale their impact nationwide. PowerMyLearning is thrilled to partner with New Profit to scale our work enabling teachers to team up with families and colleagues to provide personalized learning experiences for all students.

For more, see:

• How can Families and Communities Support Personalized Learning?
• What Does Personalized Learning Mean for Teachers?
• Powering Personalized Learning in Chicago

Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update. This post includes mentions of a Getting Smart partner. For a full list of partners, affiliate organizations and all other disclosures, please see our Partner page.

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The post Initiative Aims to Catalyze the Personalized Learning Field appeared first on Getting Smart.