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 Diving into Deeper Learning with Districts

Diving into Deeper Learning with Districts: Partner List

School systems need flexibility and friends to be able to create lasting change for their students. The list of organizations below is intended as a place to start when looking for like-minded learning partners who are focused on district-wide transformation. View more resources and information here.

Fostering student agency and engagement in their own learning

1. Californians for Justice

2. The Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA)

IDEA makes critical connections for and with communities engaged in the struggle for education equity and racial justice. Examples of our work include parent advocacy and training, youth and community engagement efforts, learning tours for schools and communities, courses on antiracism and white supremacy, and efforts to change the narrative about education and youth.

Contact Person: Albert Sykes, Executive Director, sykes.albert@gmail.com

Resources:

These are workshops, trainings, and learning experiences offered by IDEA:

3. The Practice Space

The Practice Space promotes effective and inclusive communication and public speaking in districts, schools, and communities. We provide high-quality public speaking coaching and curriculum to people of all ages through youth and adult programs, professional development, capacity-building workshops, and leadership coaching. Beyond fostering individual growth, The Practice Space promotes communication as a tool for equity by helping people develop the skills they need to express their stories, advocate for needs, connect with diverse audiences, and build meaningful relationships

Contact: AnnMarie Baines, PhD, Founder and Executive Director, annmarie@practice-space.org

Resources:

4. The Integration and Innovation Initiative (i3)

5. The Center for Youth and Community in Leadership in Education (CYCLE)

CYCLE partners with communities and schools to build capacity, alliances, and power, through learning, relationships, and organizing. We support youth, families, and educators to organize, fight for, and win policies and practices that create equitable opportunities and just outcomes for every student. To these ends, CYCLE provides customized trainings; ongoing technical assistance; convening design and facilitation; and research support to parent and youth organizing groups, schools and districts, and educators.

Contact: Keith Catone, Executive Director, Kcatone@rwu.edu

Resources:

6. YouthTruth

YouthTruth is a national nonprofit that harnesses student and stakeholder perceptions to help educators accelerate improvements. Through validated survey instruments and tailored professional learning, YouthTruth partners with schools, districts, states, and educational organizations to enhance learning for all students. Launched in 2008, YouthTruth has helped educators hear over 1.5 million student voices across 39 states. To learn more, visit youthtruthsurvey.org.

Contact: Dr. Jen de Forest, Manager of Partnerships, jend@youthtruthsurvey.org

Resources:

  • Students Weigh In: Learning & Well-Being During COVID-19: Education in the United States, as across the globe, changed dramatically when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools across the country to close in spring 2020 students were asked to learn remotely. But very few students have been asked about what the experience of emergency distance learning was like from their unique perspectives. To address that need, YouthTruth launched a national survey to gather student input. To hear what over 20,000 students said about their experiences, visit the microsite including findings from Students Weigh In: Learning & Well-Being During COVID-19 and accompanying webinar here.
  • Guidebook: Student Voice in Action: In this guidebook, you’ll find protocols and strategies to engage students in school climate data and lead alongside adults in defining and meeting improvement goals. Learn how YouthTruth and districts like San Luis Coastal Unified District, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, Oxnard Union High School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, and High Tech High are elevating student voice to accelerate change here.
  • Guidebook: Driving Educational Equity with Student Survey Data: In this guidebook, you’ll find best practices for exploring student survey data with an equity lens, examples of how other educators are leading through listening, and research-based protocols and practical tips for discussing and taking action to address inequities.

Enlisting parent and community support for student learning by sharing information and involving them in key decisions about schooling

7. Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color

COSEBOC is a highly recognized national organization with a 14 year track record of success. Our mission is to connect, inspire, support and strengthen school and community leaders and advocates dedicated to the affirmative social, emotional, cultural and academic development of boys and young men of color. We have provided consultation and professional development services to school districts, community and youth serving organizations and policy makers focused on the elimination of policies, practices and procedures that dehumanize boys and young men of color and limit and deny their authentic voices.

COSEBOC leads the way with its core document, Standards, The Uncommon Core for Schools Educating Boys and Young Men of Color. This research based document is in its 4th edition. It serves as a solid foundation for schools, districts and communities desiring to propel the success of boys and young men of color. COSEBOC provides professional development training in the effective use of the Standards. The organization also provides professional development and consultation and training in the design and implementation of our unique Young Men’s Rite of Passage program.

Contact: Margaret Jones, Office Manager, mfjones@coseboc.org and Dr. Sandra Spooner, sspooner@coseboc.org

8. Research Hub for Youth Organizing

The Research Hub supports youth organizers and their allies in using research to directly shape broader social justice movements. Examples of resources include Youth Participatory Action Research curriculum, evaluation of adult professional learning initiatives, leadership assessment tools, and collaborative data analysis. Our model of co-constructing new research means that we work with adult and youth leaders in your district and community to develop materials, training or provide research support that best supports the changes you are aiming to make.

Contact: Michelle Valladares, michelle.valladares@colorado.edu

Resources:

The Research Hub has co-developed resources for teachers aiming to build student agency and leadership.

  • In partnership with Padres y Jóvenes Unidos (PJU), the Research Hub created a toolkit for teachers and other school-based adult personnel to sponsor students who want to start extracurricular chapters or clubs focused on community leadership and organizing. This toolkit offers resources for facilitating youth participatory action research, democratic decision-making, and student voice.
  • In partnership with the Hewlett-funded Critical Civic Inquiry project (CCI), members of our team developed an “action civics” curriculum that is intended for use by middle and/or high school teachers aiming to support student voice and democracy education. In action civics, students identify a problem relevant to their lives, do systematic research to understand the problem, develop policy solutions, and communicate a call to action to public audiences. Although most aligned with civics courses, the modules have been developed so that they can be adapted to project-based learning in literacy, social studies, or mathematics/statistics. This work has been piloted and studied in Denver Public Schools through a partnership with their Student Voice and Leadership program.
  • To complement the curriculum work, the CCI team has also co-designed, piloted, and studied professional learning communities for teachers and school counselors aiming to facilitate civic engagement and student voice at their schools. We work in partnership with school districts to identify key levers for scaling transformative student voice across the district, such that student learning opportunities, teacher support, and district policies are aligned and create conditions for youth-adult partnerships that foster educational equity.

9. The Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative (EJ ROC)

10. Institute for Education Leadership

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) acts as a catalyst and capacity builder at the intersection of education, community collaboration and workforce development to effectively advance equity and better opportunities for all children and youth. IEL facilitates and co-creates innovative solutions and strategies; ​develops, trains, and supports thousands of leaders of all ages, stages, sectors and multiple levels of decision making for collaborative, adaptive and distributive leadership; and provides technical assistance at the local, state, and national level in the development of comprehensive systems of support.

Contact: Kwesi Rollins, rollinsk@iel.org

Resources:

Youth Leadership and Development

Family and Community Engagement

Systems, Structures and Leadership

11. The Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA)

IDEA makes critical connections for and with communities engaged in the struggle for education equity and racial justice. Examples of our work include parent advocacy and training, youth and community engagement efforts, learning tours for schools and communities, courses on antiracism and white supremacy, and efforts to change the narrative about education and youth.

Contact: Albert Sykes, Executive Director, sykes.albert@gmail.com

Resources:

These are workshops, trainings, and learning experiences offered by IDEA:

12. ISKME

ISKME supports innovative teaching and learning practices throughout the globe, and is well known for its pioneering open education initiatives. ISKME partners with states, districts, and other agencies and institutions to build capacity for OER and change in practice. ISKME has developed OER Commons, a digital public library and collaboration infrastructure for educators at all levels to identify high-quality open educational resources (OER) and has served as a curator and intermediary for open and freely accessible content collections and emerging open education practitioners at all levels. Our OER Services also offer custom landing pages on OER Commons where organizations aggregate and manage their resources, collections, and groups, and share information about their OER work. ISKME also assists education systems in designing, assessing, and bringing continuous improvement to education policies, programs, and practices.

Contact: Amee Evans Godwin, VP, Research & Development, amee@iskme.org

13. National Center for Families Learning

Resources:

14. The Community Coalition of South Los Angeles (CoCo)

15. The Advancement Project

Advancement Project California (APCA) is a next generation, multiracial civil rights organization. We champion the struggle for greater equity and opportunity for all, fostering upward mobility in communities most impacted by economic and racial injustice. We build alliances and trust, use data-driven policy solutions, create innovative tools and work alongside communities to ignite social transformation. APCA’s Educational Equity program focuses on addressing the urgent needs of children and families, as well as building long terms systems of support, leading with racial equity for our highest needs communities.

Contact: Karla Pleitez Howell, Managing Director of Programs and Policies, kpleitezhowell@advanceproj.org

Resources:

Supporting educators as they adapt to the unprecedented circumstances in which they must practice their craft

16. New Teacher Center

17. Teaching Lab

In partnership with thousands of teachers, Teaching Lab transforms professional learning from the ground up to dramatically improve student outcomes. We also work with school, district, and state leaders to create the instructional systems necessary to support educators. In the COVID-19 era, we support schools and systems to engage in high-impact student distance learning.

Teaching Lab’s school model is centered around the following components:

  • Head: Core academic content embedded in high-quality instructional materials and aligned to research-based practices.
  • Heart: Teacher-led communities that build both social capital and buy-in.
  • Habits: Structured and repeated cycles of inquiry in the classroom.
  • Equity: All of Teaching Lab’s work is in service of racial educational equity, which we define as “raising the achievement of all students, while eliminating the racial predictability and disproportionality of which student groups occupy the highest and lowest achievement categories.”

Contact: Matthew Moll, Project Manager, matthew.moll@teachinglab.org

Resources:

  • Teaching Lab’s Principles for Distance and Hybrid Instruction: These principles are for educators to use when planning to deliver instruction in fully remote (distance) or hybrid (combination of in-person and distant) learning contexts.
  • Diverse Learners Planning Guide: The purpose of this Guide is to support teachers in effectively teaching diverse learners, especially during small-group instruction and during blocks of additional instructional time. Ideally, the Guide should be used while educators plan and organize instructional time for diverse learners.
  • Just-In-Time (JIT) Supports Guide: This guide assists teachers who will use JIT supports to promote accelerated learning in the era of COVID19.
  • Impact Report: Our impact analysis shows that educators can learn complex and difficult practices and they can learn them fast. Teachers learn how to do difficult things faster when they use high-quality instructional materials and when their systems invest in sustained, relevant and coherent learning opportunities for them. Teaching is even more difficult now as teachers need to double-plan to support students in virtual and blended learning environments. This is not the time to short-shrift teacher learning opportunities.
  • Learn with Teaching Lab: In response to COVD19 we launched a webinar discussion series. We convened educators to learn about and share educational best practices for both current virtual learning with students and teachers, as well as the reopening of school. The discussions focused on two themes: supporting students & teachers virtually and supporting systems to reopen successfully.

18. Leading Educators

19. Instruction Partners

20. Learning Forward

Learning Forward builds the capacity of leaders to establish and sustain highly effective professional learning through direct services to districts, communities of practice, learning experiences, and research-based, practical tools for educators. Learning Forward offers high-quality professional learning in a virtual learning environment to help teacher leaders, coaches, mentors, and school leaders lead and facilitate in-person, hybrid, and fully virtual professional learning to advance an ambitious vision for learning for every student.

Services offered:

Contact: Tom Manning, Vice President of Consulting Management and Services, tom.manning@learningforward.org

21. EL Education

Curriculum Implementation Support

EL Education supports district partners implementing EL’s K-8 Language Arts Curriculum. We collaborate with partners over multiple years to build a shared vision for high quality that guides the priorities through all phases of implementation.

  • Phase 1, Planning: Strategic planning and conditions assessment to align with district priorities.
  • Phase 2, Launch: Professional Learning (virtual, in person, or hybrid) paired with curated tools and resources for ongoing support
  • Phase 3, Implementation: Hands on, deep learning around what impactful curriculum implementation looks and sounds like in the classroom, supported by collaborative classroom visits and data collection using EL Education tools.

EL Education also partners with districts who are considering new curricula to assess the readiness of the system for large-scale adoption. This service is curriculum agnostic and occurs in the year preceding an adoption decision.

Contact: Kari Horn Lehman, Associate Director, Curriculum Partnerships, khornlehman@eleducation.org, (716) 572-2773

22. Envision Learning Partners (ELP)

Contact: Justin Wells, Executive Director, Envision Learning Partners, justin@envisionlearning.org

Resources:

23. PBL Works

PBL Works’ services, tools, and research are designed to build the capacity of K-12 teachers to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning, and the capacity of school leaders to create a culture for teachers to implement great projects with all students.

Contact: The point person for districts to reach out to for partnership is Antoinette Magee, director of educational partnerships, services@pblworks.org.

Resources:

  • MyPBLWorks, a Broad Collection of PBL Resources for Teachers: This online learning platform for PBL teachers includes free PBL projects ideas across subjects and grade levels, and PBL resources including planning tools, rubrics, strategy guides, videos, and student handouts. 72 comprehensive, ready-to-implement PBL project plans with an interactive planning tool are available for a fee. Go to the My.PBLWorks.org.
  • PBL Resources for Remote Learning: How can a PBL teacher keep students connected and engaged, so a project is just as powerful as what would be expected in their face-to-face classroom? We created this resource to provide a host of ideas, examples, and tools that can help you answer this question. It’s a collection of resources for bringing high-quality PBL to remote learning – from project ideas and technology tools, to educational equity, best practices, and help for families. Go to the Remote Learning Microsite.
  • Free eBook for parents & caregivers (and teachers): This Teachable Moment: Engaging Our Kids in the Joy of Learning :This Teachable Moment offers a primer on Project Based Learning (PBL) and 21 easy-to-implement, “follow the recipe” PBL projects, informed by educational research and designed for children of all ages and capabilities within your household. These projects can be used to keep your kids learning, growing, and discovering during school shutdowns and long breaks, all while giving you the space and time needed to stay productive. Learn more and download.

24. Building Assets, Reducing Risks (BARR)

BARR (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) is a strengths-based educational model that provides schools with a comprehensive approach to meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of all students through the power of data and relationships – both inside and outside the classroom. BARR’s coaching and training systems and SEL curriculum have all been modified to support schools in distance or hybrid learning formats, including student tracking and engagement systems, parent outreach support, and a toolkit with ideas to support educators’ self-care and collegiality. BARR schools receive access to the network of 170+ schools through Professional Learning Communities during which educators can troubleshoot problems they are experiencing, learn from their peers about solutions and successful distance learning strategies that are working for them.

Contact: Rob Metz, Deputy Director, rob.metz@barrcenter.org

Resources:

25. Internationals’ Network for Public Schools

26. 2Revolutions

2Revolutions (www.2revolutions.net) is a national education design lab that works with K12 districts in authentic partnership with their communities to design and build toward their Future of Learning – at the level of both schools and systems. We help build capacity to transform. A pioneer in the field of personalized, student-centered learning, since 2008 2Rev has successfully led 400+ design and professional learning engagements in more than 30 states. For this potential collaboration, we highlight our unique focus on personalized, competency-based professional learning experiences, as well as our integrated supports, including: modular, competency-aligned content; transformational coaching; facilitation of professional learning communities; and the option for participating educators to receive graduate credits.

Contact: For more information, please contact Todd Kern, Founder & Partner, at tvk@2revolutions.net or 917.640.7608 (mobile)

Resources:

  • 2Revolutions_Transformational Coaching (Overview)
  • 2Revolutions_Reentry Professional Learning Pathways (Overview)
  • 2Revolutions_Reentry Professional Learning Pathways (Detail)
  • 2Revolutions_SAMPLE Student-driven Assessment PLC

27. The Equity Institute

Equity Institute develops and implements innovative systems that cultivate culturally responsive schools and communities for all learners. More specifically, we focus on the following:

  • Learning and Development: We work directly with schools, organizations, and communities to develop and implement culturally responsive strategies that will advance their equity goals.
  • Research: We engage in research, analysis, consultation, and synthesis of information to produce thoughts, ideas, and practical approaches to promoting equity in our education system.
  • Coalition Building: We support and cultivate meaningful interactions between people to promote collective action geared towards advocating for equity within the education system.

Contact: Karla Vigil, Chief Executive Officer, kvigil@theequityinstitute.org

Resources:

28. English Learner Success Forum

29. Pivot Learning

30. UnboundEd

We are dedicated to empowering teachers by providing free, high-quality standards-aligned resources for the classroom, the opportunity for immersive training through our Institute, and the option of support through our website offerings.

UnboundEd’s highly-interactive two-day Virtual Summit, designed for teachers, coaches and leaders, supports planning and delivering equitable instruction that guards against the risk of over-remediation. At the end of the Summit, participants will be able to leverage the shifting demands on planning and instruction to create engaging learning environments that support students who have experienced interrupted schooling through COVID-19.

Contact: Joyce Macek at joyce.macek@unbounded.org

Resources:

  • UnboundEd Bias Toolkit: Disrupting Inequity: Having Brave Conversations About Bias: The toolkit contains a high-level overview of the facilitated conversation, with individual PowerPoint presentations and materials containing detailed notes, resources, and activities that will help you move through each part of the conversation. Educators are encouraged to modify these presentations so they work for your school community.
  • ELA and Math Curriculum
  • Math and ELA Guides
  • Blog

31. Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

ISKME supports innovative teaching and learning practices throughout the globe, and is well known for its pioneering open education initiatives. ISKME partners with states, districts, and other agencies and institutions to build capacity for OER and change in practice. ISKME has developed OER Commons, a digital public library and collaboration infrastructure for educators at all levels to identify high-quality open educational resources (OER) and has served as a curator and intermediary for open and freely accessible content collections and emerging open education practitioners at all levels. Our OER Services also offer custom landing pages on OER Commons where organizations aggregate and manage their resources, collections, and groups, and share information about their OER work. ISKME also assists education systems in designing, assessing, and bringing continuous improvement to education policies, programs, and practices.

Contact: Amee Evans Godwin, VP, Research & Development, amee@iskme.org

32. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

Contact: Ellen Sherratt, Ph.D., Vice-President, Policy & Research, esherratt@nbpts.org

Resources:

33. National Center for Teaching Residencies

The National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) is the only organization in the nation dedicated to developing, launching, supporting, and accelerating the impact of teacher residency programs. Through school-based clinical preparation that is tailored to partner districts’ context, teacher residencies are a proven strategy to increase teacher diversity, effectiveness, and retention.

In addition to helping school districts and institutions of higher education build teacher residencies and help them improve their quality, NCTR provides consultative services to school districts to create high-quality teaching and learning experiences and support educators across their career continuum.

Contact: Districts interested in partnering with NCTR should contact Jill Pitner, Chief of Business Development at jpitner@nctresidencies.org.

Resources:

34. Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity

35. Big Picture Learning

Big Picture Learning designs and supports a network of over 70 schools across the USA, and has helped to launch over 100 more around the world, whose core focus is that personalized, real-world situated learning should be driven by student interests and internships. We have also helped many school teams that do not wish to adopt the whole BPL design, but do wish to incorporate some features and components of that design into their own.

BPL is a school developer, but does not govern and operate schools. Instead, BPL works in collaboration with school districts to establish new schools that together form our School Network.

We work with some of the most disenfranchised populations and disaffected students and have demonstrated success insuring that every student is given an equitable opportunity to explore their interests, pursue their passions, and realize their dreams. We do not seek to achieve equity through “sameness” and replication, but rather through close collaboration with families and communities to produce learning environments that match each individual context. We are committed to equity of opportunity, which requires a truly student-centered approach that goes beyond differentiation and customization, and values personal growth over time.

We invite your community to consider adopting components of the BPL design, or the design in whole.

Contact: Dr. Eva Mejia, Chief Program and Strategy Officer, eva@bigpicturelearning.org

Resources:

Creating robust blended/virtual learning opportunities for students

36. Transcend

37. 2Revolutions

2Revolutions (www.2revolutions.net) is a national education design lab that works with K12 districts in authentic partnership with their communities to design and build toward their Future of Learning – at the level of both schools and systems. We help build capacity to transform. A pioneer in the field of personalized, student-centered learning, since 2008 2Rev has successfully led 400+ design and professional learning engagements in more than 30 states. For this potential collaboration, we highlight our unique focus on personalized, competency-based professional learning experiences, as well as our integrated supports, including: modular, competency-aligned content; transformational coaching; facilitation of professional learning communities; and the option for participating educators to receive graduate credits.

Contact: Todd Kern, Founder & Partner, at tvk@2revolutions.net

Resources:

  • 2Revolutions_Transformational Coaching (Overview)
  • 2Revolutions_Reentry Professional Learning Pathways (Overview)
  • 2Revolutions_Reentry Professional Learning Pathways (Detail)
  • 2Revolutions_SAMPLE Student-driven Assessment PLC

38. Highlander Institute

Highlander Institute focuses on creating personalized and culturally responsive learning environments, particularly for historically underserved student populations. The Institute identifies best practices, develops instructional resources, and activates educators as change agents. Working with over ninety schools and districts across the country the Institute specializes in building relationships with educators across diverse urban, suburban, charter and district environments. The Institute team has a sophisticated understanding of the complexities involved in supporting district level change initiatives and has codified it’s approach in the 2018 release of the book Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change, with Harvard Education Press.

Contact: Chief Education Officer, Shawn Rubin, 401-688-4787 or srubin@highlanderinstitute.org. Please also CC the Institute’s executive assistant, Cindy Kenney at ckenney@highlanderinstitute.org.

Resources:

  • During distance learning this past spring the Highlander Institute created a framework with Four Key Considerations for schools and teachers to consider when implementing distance or remote instruction. Our Director of Pedagogy, Malika Ali also wrote this piece in The 74 explaining the rationale behind this framework.
  • Over the past month we have been building short instructional videos for teachers, schools, and districts and releasing them under our Distance Learning Spotlight series. You can review these videos to get a good sense of our coaching and professional learning supports here.
  • Over the past five years Highlander Institute has run a teacher leadership fellowship called Fuse RI. This fellowship has been replicated in Syracuse, NY and Southeastern, MA. The EDC did a 5-year, external evaluation of our Fellowship approach that you can read about in this white paper.
  • The Institute believes deeply in focused and aligned coaching and professional learning at the building level. We use our Priority Practices Tool and calibrated rubric to drive the change process. Our tool and rubric are used to support schools in selecting their vision for change, coaching teachers, and establishing continuous improvement cycles built on observable classroom data.

39. Inflexion

Inflexion is a nonprofit focused on supporting student ownership of learning through school organizational change. Our solutions turn disruption into opportunity, sparking the transformation of schools from places that emphasize testing to centers of student-driven learning, where students own their own learning.

First, we lead schools to define what they stand for. We employ multilingual and varied outreach methods to reach all members of diverse school communities where they are and gather their insights. We help the school establish a shared vision for student readiness that is community driven, holistic, and empowering. The ability to own their own learning is an explicit student outcome.

Our training sequence then helps schools align existing approaches to learning with their shared vision. We lead schools through a proven process to update structures, instructional models, and systems that have held underserved students back from success. We support them as they re-design and configure practices and policies. Our roadmap shows schools how to bring all the features of a high-quality, multi-tiered system of support to school operations.

Contact: Brandi Peterson, Director of School Partnerships, at brandi.peterson@inflexion.org

Resources:

40. New Tech Network

New Tech Network is a leading design partner for comprehensive K-12 school change. We coach teachers and school leaders to inspire and engage all students through authentic and challenging work. The New Tech model combines pervasive project-based learning, an engaging school-wide culture and the real-world use of technology tools and resources. We support the whole school through three key structures: professional development events, coaching, and Echo, the NTN project-based platform.

Contact: Nick Kappelhof, Senior Director, District and School Development

41. Big Picture Learning

Big Picture Learning designs and supports a network of over 70 schools across the USA, and has helped to launch over 100 more around the world, whose core focus is that personalized, real-world situated learning should be driven by student interests and internships. We have also helped many school teams that do not wish to adopt the whole BPL design, but do wish to incorporate some features and components of that design into their own.

BPL is a school developer, but does not govern and operate schools. Instead, BPL works in collaboration with school districts to establish new schools that together form our School Network.

We work with some of the most disenfranchised populations and disaffected students and have demonstrated success insuring that every student is given an equitable opportunity to explore their interests, pursue their passions, and realize their dreams. We do not seek to achieve equity through “sameness” and replication, but rather through close collaboration with families and communities to produce learning environments that match each individual context. We are committed to equity of opportunity, which requires a truly student-centered approach that goes beyond differentiation and customization, and values personal growth over time.

We invite your community to consider adopting components of the BPL design, or the design in whole.

Contact: Eva Mejia, Chief Program and Strategy Officer eva@bigpicturelearning.org

Resources:

42. Internationals’ Network for Public Schools

New Tech Network is a leading design partner for comprehensive K-12 school change. We coach teachers and school leaders to inspire and engage all students through authentic and challenging work. The New Tech model combines pervasive project-based learning, an engaging school-wide culture and the real-world use of technology tools and resources. We support the whole school through three key structures: professional development events, coaching, and Echo, the NTN project-based platform.

Contact: Nick Kappelhof, Senior Director, District and School Development

43. EL Education

EL Education supports district partners implementing EL’s K-8 Language Arts Curriculum. We collaborate with partners over multiple years to build a shared vision for high quality that guides the priorities through all phases of implementation.

  • Phase 1, Planning: Strategic planning and conditions assessment to align with district priorities.
  • Phase 2, Launch: Professional Learning (virtual, in person, or hybrid) paired with curated tools and resources for ongoing support
  • Phase 3, Implementation: Hands on, deep learning around what impactful curriculum implementation looks and sounds like in the classroom, supported by collaborative classroom visits and data collection using EL Education tools.

EL Education also partners with districts who are considering new curricula to assess the readiness of the system for large-scale adoption. This service is curriculum agnostic and occurs in the year preceding an adoption decision.

Contact: Kari Horn Lehman, Associate Director, Curriculum Partnerships, khornlehman@eleducation.org, (716) 572-2773

44. Envision Learning Partners (ELP)

Contact: Justin Wells, Executive Director, Envision Learning Partners, justin@envisionlearning.org

Resources: 

45. PBL Works

PBL Works services, tools, and research are designed to build the capacity of K-12 teachers to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning, and the capacity of school leaders to create a culture for teachers to implement great projects with all students.

Contact: Antoinette Magee, director of educational partnerships, services@pblworks.org.

Resources:

  • MyPBLWorks, a Broad Collection of PBL Resources for Teachers: This online learning platform for PBL teachers includes free PBL projects ideas across subjects and grade levels, and PBL resources including planning tools, rubrics, strategy guides, videos, and student handouts. 72 comprehensive, ready-to-implement PBL project plans with an interactive planning tool are available for a fee. Go to the My.PBLWorks.org.
  • PBL Resources for Remote Learning: How can a PBL teacher keep students connected and engaged, so a project is just as powerful as what would be expected in their face-to-face classroom? We created this resource to provide a host of ideas, examples, and tools that can help you answer this question. It’s a collection of resources for bringing high-quality PBL to remote learning – from project ideas and technology tools, to educational equity, best practices, and help for families. Go to the Remote Learning Microsite.
  • Free eBook for parents & caregivers (and teachers): This Teachable Moment: Engaging Our Kids in the Joy of Learning :This Teachable Moment offers a primer on Project Based Learning (PBL) and 21 easy-to-implement, “follow the recipe” PBL projects, informed by educational research and designed for children of all ages and capabilities within your household. These projects can be used to keep your kids learning, growing, and discovering during school shutdowns and long breaks, all while giving you the space and time needed to stay productive. Learn more and download.

46. The Practice Space

The Practice Space promotes effective and inclusive communication and public speaking in districts, schools, and communities. We provide high-quality public speaking coaching and curriculum to people of all ages through youth and adult programs, professional development, capacity-building workshops, and leadership coaching. Beyond fostering individual growth, The Practice Space promotes communication as a tool for equity by helping people develop the skills they need to express their stories, advocate for needs, connect with diverse audiences, and build meaningful relationships

Contact: AnnMarie Baines, PhD, Founder and Executive Director, annmarie@practice-space.org

Resources:

Establishing, adopting and adapting policies to support high-quality teaching and learning experiences

47. Education Resource Strategies

Education Resource Strategies partners with district, school, and state leaders to transform how they use resources (people, time, and money) so that every school prepares every child for tomorrow, no matter their race or income. Our work spans three areas: Resource use analysis (including budget, staffing and scheduling), system and school design, and implementation support. We design partnerships, which can last anywhere from several weeks to several months, to meet the needs of each district.

Contact: Nicole Katz, Partnership & Development Lead: nkatz@erstrategies.org, (646) 263-5417

Resources:

ERS has a wide array of tools and resources for district leaders available free of charge on their website, www.erstrategies.org. Some tools that may be of interest:

  • COVID toolkit: Tools to help district leaders plan for 2020-21 and adjust to changes across the year, including scheduling and staffing models and cost calculators.
  • Districts at Work: Profiles of eight school systems transforming how the central office supports schools and seeing student results.
  • New Teacher Support Toolkit: Tools to help school systems provide new teachers support they need – and reorganize the resources to do it.
  • Student-Based Budgeting Toolkit: Resources to help district leaders implement an equity-focused school funding model as a part of broader district strategy.

48. Afton Partners

Contact: Scott Milam, Managing Director, smilam@aftonpartners.com

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  7. Effective Philanthropy 
  8. Racial Justice 
  9. SF Bay Area 
  10. Special Projects 
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