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Dear colleagues,
While the term “learning acceleration” was popularly taken up in the wake of the pandemic, tackling widespread, persistent gaps in foundational learning remains one of the pernicious challenges faced by the K-12 sector. Early investment in recovery has emphasized urgent, supplemental approaches such as high-dosage tutoring to complement core instruction, but as we enter our fourth academic year post the arrival of COVID-19, the data shows the effect of these programs are more modest at scale. It’s clear we’re going to need to do a lot more, within the very center of students’ days and supported by new tools, to really drive the change needed to deliver on the promise of an excellent education for every child.
With this challenge in mind, The Learning Accelerator (TLA) launched the Exponential Learning Initiative at the end of the last school year with three core acceleration objectives:
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Accelerating adoption of existing core-classroom learning acceleration approaches, supporting 10 networks led by technology and support providers as they sought to scale their programs and build rigorous evidence in implementation.
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Accelerating evidence of innovative, whole-school models that effectively use virtual and hybrid programs to better understand how they drive quality outcomes, for whom, and under what conditions.
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Accelerating understanding and a shared agenda for policymakers, funders, and other condition-creators seeking to create the structures, policies, and resourcing models to help virtually-supported approaches succeed.
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Across all of this work, and aligned to TLA’s strategy, we’re making connections across workstreams, developing actionable insights and knowledge, and helping to disseminate the emerging learnings and research to advance change across the field.
Today, we’re excited to announce the first cohort of our Accelerating Adoption Network, which is working alongside TLA in districts in 36 states across the country. With our research partner, Mathematica, we’re diving deep to evaluate their outcomes and better understand the opportunities and challenges they’re facing as they scale. Together, we’re exploring how tools like AI are helping improve differentiation and personalization of high-quality curriculum. We’re also exploring other levers, beyond direct core-subject area intervention, such as family engagement and metacognition support, that could help us tackle what the competency-based learning field has referred to as a “Swiss-cheese” mastery of academic standards.
Our 10 outstanding Accelerating Adoption Network participants might have approaches that differ, but these organizations all have a high potential for scalability and durability. Read below to learn more about them and their work. We’re also including a link to the first report from our recent efforts to accelerate evidence of innovative, whole-school models, which offers a landscape overview of public virtual and hybrid learning models.
Together, we are fostering innovation that centers student learning and success, and it’s incredibly exciting to be part of this journey with our grantees and with you. We’re looking forward to sharing what we learn about this year. We’re also seeking additional resources to increase the scope and impact of this work. Let us know if you’re interested in learning alongside us.
Yours in partnership and curiosity,
Beth Rabbitt, Chief Executive Officer (she/her)
P.S. Read the full announcement here.
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The Accelerating Adoption Network: Scaling Programs and Building Evidence in Implementation
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ASU Preparatory Academy
Strategy: AI-powered math practice platform with feedback
ASU Prep developed "Digit," a math practice platform that provides students with short tutorials and practice problems. Embedded in Digit is "Archie," an AI-powered tool that uses advanced technologies such as large language models, machine learning, and natural language processing to deliver personalized, real-time feedback, helping students understand math concepts more effectively.
Learning Opportunity: In what way can AI complement existing virtual/hybrid learning programs to drive math learning acceleration?
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Building 21
Strategy: AI-guided tools for project building and student feedback
Building 21’s Beacon platform includes an AI-supported, student-driven project builder built with PlayLab and an AI tool that provides timely, relevant, and actionable feedback to students on that project. The goal of these tools is to enhance and accelerate learning outcomes, particularly in English Language Arts (ELA).
Learning Opportunity: What does powerful ELA acceleration look like in 6-12, competency-based PBL environments?
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Coursemojo
Strategy: AI-powered teacher assistant for differentiated, rigorous ELA instruction
The goal of Coursemojo is to improve students’ ELA outcomes with an AI-powered teacher assistant that helps educators differentiate instruction by providing personalized feedback and guidance to students as they engage with grade-level texts. Teachers get real-time data to facilitate more targeted, whole-class discussions as well as grading support to increase the quantity and quality of feedback students receive.
Learning Opportunity: How can virtual AI solve the implementation gap for ELA High-Quality Instructional Materials?
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Lab School of Memphis
Strategy: Micro-school model with tutoring & personalized learning
This micro-school model provides an alternative approach to traditional K-12 schooling called the “Hit Pit.” It leverages best practices for high-intensity tutoring (HIT) and personalized independent tasks and teaching (PIT) to strengthen core instruction. In-person teachers provide focused instruction on specific skills and targeted practice. Students also receive synchronous virtual instruction through LSM’s partnership with Arizona State University Prep Global (ASU Prep Global) in math, science, ELA, and social studies.
Learning Opportunity: How can satellite campuses, supported by virtual tools and instructions, effectively serve families seeking more flexible learning environments?
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LEAP Innovations
Strategy: Professional development & curated edtech tools to personalize learning
This year-long pilot helps schools implement and scale personalized learning and edtech. Additionally, it helps edtech innovators improve their products in service of educators and students. The program has two major arms: professional development and coaching support for school teams, provided at the start of and throughout the school year, and the piloting of an edtech product in school team classrooms, which occurs in the latter half of the year-long pilot.
Learning Opportunity: How can a redesigned network use tools to accelerate learning redesign classrooms for durable, systemic change across a school site?
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Magpie Literacy
Strategy: Digital reading foundations tool with personalized pathways
Magpie Literacy’s current digital reading foundations tool is a K-2 year-long supplemental tool that assesses and teaches the essential components of early literacy instruction in ~40 minutes per week. Magpie brings together the subcomponents of reading: phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, word chaining, letter formation, sound-spelling correspondences, vocabulary, print concepts, high-frequency words, and shared reading through instructional videos and games.
Learning Opportunity: In what ways does a validated early literacy tool allow teachers to work differently with students in classrooms?
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MindPrint Learning
Strategy: Personalized instruction via cognitive assessment
MindPrint integrates data from its online, cognitive assessment with school achievement data to provide the most effective personalized strategies to support students by learning strand and behavior needs. The MindPrint Solution enables schools to efficiently and affordably collect cognitive data and shows teachers how to effectively use this data to improve outcomes in math, reading, and behavior.
Learning Opportunity: How does focusing on cognitive intervention and support accelerate learning across a range of subjects?
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PowerMyLearning
Strategy: Online math practice tool for discourse and sensemaking
PowerMyLearning’s "Family Playlists" is an online math tool for early grades (K-2) supporting student discourse and "sensemaking" skills. The tool emphasizes problem-solving processes, discussion, and reasoning over rote memorization of math facts, while providing at-home learning opportunities for families.
Learning Opportunity: How might a product that effectively "bridges" school and family learning accelerate math outcomes?
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Rock by Rock
Strategy: Online library of project-based learning experiences
Rock by Rock is an online library of fully planned project-based learning experiences and on-demand training for teachers that supports literacy development for students in grades K-5. Their project-based learning offers a holistic, personalized approach that leverages core science of reading principles to catalyze reading comprehension by building vocabulary tied to real-world knowledge while also fostering durable, career-ready skills that students need to thrive in life.
Learning Opportunity: How can high-quality, virtually supported Project-Based Learning literacy curriculum dramatically improve outcomes for students learning in non-traditional school environments?
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University of Kentucky Center For Next Generation Leadership
Strategy: Dual credit courses and deeper learning experiences
This dual credit and deeper learning initiative supports traditional high schools in transitioning to a Deeper Learning Early College (DLEC) model by focusing on ensuring that content is relevant, real-world, and interactive. While traditional dual enrollment programs allow students to earn college credit in high school, DLEC campuses ensure courses are relevant, support deeper learning, and apply to students’ postsecondary futures.
Learning Opportunity: How can fully virtual, deeper learning dual credit courses accelerate and increase enrollment and outcomes for high school students while also spurring more innovative schedules and resource use statewide?
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[Bonus Content] Report: Where, Why, How: Deepening Analysis of the U.S. K-12 Virtual Learning Landscape
As part of TLA’s Exponential Learning Initiative, we conducted a national analysis of 64 entities, offering crucial insights on the current state of virtual learning and hybrid learning models across the United States.
Check out the report here.
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