Dear colleagues,

As I’m sure is true for many readers, I’m working to make sense of the results of the U.S. elections. The concrete implications of political power shifts remain largely in the land of speculation. In this moment of uncertainty, I’m asking myself how we can continue to move K-12 public education forward. Where should we focus?

For now, the one thing I am absolutely certain about is the importance of centerin g our values. At TLA, this means putting kids first, continuing to drive towards a future where every kid gets what they need to reach their full and unique potential. To get there, we’ll need to keep working as collaboratively and collectively as possible, holding a deep belief in our ability to learn together about how to build a more equitable future for all.

Thank you for your partnership and for your commitment to being in this work with us.

Yours in partnership and curiosity,

Beth Rabbitt, Chief Executive Officer (she/her)

TLA Updates

Learning Together Through The School Teams AI Collaborative

The School Teams AI Collaborative at the convening in Denver, Colorado. Approximately 60-70 diverse professionals are gathered together, arranged in multiple rows, with some people standing and others kneeling in the front.

The School Teams AI Collaborative, led by Leading Educators and The Learning Accelerator, convened in Denver last month! School-based teams shared their early experiences along with strategies they have found successful, brainstorming solutions to common challenges. Check out our most recent blog to learn more about how Collaborative members are exploring, testing, and sharing best practices for using AI in ways that support real instructional improvement and better student outcomes.

Lessons From the Google GSV Education Innovation Fellows

The Google GSV Education Innovation Fellowship champions K-12 superintendents and top-level instructional leaders dedicated to using technology as a lever for innovation and impact. In the inaugural year of the Fellowship, TLA was contracted to create resource roundups on topics critical to the fellows while also capturing the transformational opportunity their district or system was focused on (e.g., improving instruction with technology). This year, TLA produced a Digital Lookbook of Insights & Resources from the 2023-24 Cohort. It profiles each of the Fellows with six thematic videos synthesizing the challenges and opportunities found across their initiatives.

Watch this video of the Fellows discussing how they explored improving instruction with technology:

Thumbnail for a video including a Google GSV Fellow. She is smiling at the camera.

Spotlighting Innovation in Practice

Natick Public Schools

A district located outside of Boston working to develop and strengthen their edtech tool selection and evaluation processes.

With a strong record in edtech systems work and innovation, Natick Public Schools already had a robust edtech selection process in place that screened for student safety, data privacy, and interoperability. Within the last year, Natick has made significant progress addressing how their processes could be strengthened by centering students who have historically been positioned furthest from opportunity or impacted by digital inequities. Recognizing the need to revise their edtech selection criteria to include an explicit check for digital and linguistic accessibility, the team began by aligning on shared definitions for each.

The Natick team crafted a selection criteria tool based on this shared language and identified linguistic accessibility as one key criterion to focus on during their implementation efforts. With this work, the team assembled a list of “Superpower Tools” that met their needs and prioritized professional development and implementation support for tool use.

Read more in TLA’s profile of Natick Public Schools for a closer look at the importance of leadership in driving edtech systems improvements and discover how school districts can center learners in that work.

Facing a Learning Challenge? We Can Help

Are you or your team looking for a partner in learning? The Learning Accelerator frequently works as a partner to other teams and organizations, offering support to help them effectively move forward in their own communities and contexts. We offer support in research and measurement, strategic advising, network development and facilitation, and knowledge codification.

Current and past clients of TLA include state and local education agencies, nonprofit organizations, professional service and technology providers, and philanthropic organizations.

For a full breakdown of our services check out our website. Interested in discussing how TLA can accelerate your organization’s learning? Email us at: partnerships@learningaccelerator.org.

The Future of Learning Series

Hybrid learning, when thoughtfully designed, can unlock student-centered learning. In our Future of Learning blog series, we uplifted the voices of three school leaders sharing how their schools leverage virtual and in-person capabilities to flex to students' individual needs, schedules, and life circumstances.

Read more about each school’s vision and strategy:

What We're Reading

Learner-Centered in Focus Report (Education Reimagined)
Envisioning Educator Roles for Transformation Report (KnowledgeWorks)
2024 Election Results: An Overview of State Legislatures and Ballot Measures (Education Commission of the States)

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keep up with our work on the TLA Blog.