Our mission is to vastly improve the opportunity to learn for all Americans by closing the digital learning gap. It’s a mission we share with inspiring and innovative educators across the country. For all of us, the question is how do we influence this change? And how do we know what success looks like?
Along with Verizon, we are taking action to answer these questions by partnering with eight U.S. middle schools to create innovative learning environments and document the process so others can learn from their experiences.
In the spring, these eight schools committed to a readiness process and at the start of this school year begin a two-year journey with us. Each student and teacher receives a tablet equipped with a two-year, 5-GB monthly data plan, donated by Verizon to Digital Promise. Each school has its own coach who will support the teachers in the development of personalized professional development goals.
To ensure the experiences of these schools have the greatest impact, we thought: What if we could share this story?
What if we could share the story of schools that ensure every student and teacher have access to the resources for learning, research, solving problems, creating and presenting when and where they need them? Could we share the process of developing digital literacy and responsibility?
What could these schools accomplish? What would learning look like? What would be different and what would remain the same? How would students and educators at these schools change the world around them? How would families and communities be engaged?
By fully and continuously documenting our work with our partner schools, we will create an online guidebook for schools and districts preparing for, or in the throes of, a digital conversion. Expect to see victories, interesting challenges, and lots of lessons learned, plus policies, templates, timelines, strategies, and professional development opportunities. To follow our project, subscribe to our mailing list.
From the beginning we organized Digital Promise around the power of collaboration and sharing. We’ve been fortunate to participate in the important conversations occurring in our League of Innovative Schools. We are excited to launch this new initiative, and we invite you to take this journey with us.
This project is part of our broader initiative called Verizon Innovative Learning Schools. Get in touch if you are interested in working with us on this initiative.
Read more about this project at Education Week.
