Partnership offers a real-time view into educational transformation
Cupertino, CA – August 14, 2013 – The Learning Accelerator (TLA), a nonprofit organization supporting the implementation of high-quality blended learning in school districts across America, today announced its first full district-wide implementation with the Reynoldsburg City School District in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
“We are excited to be working side-by-side with Reynoldsburg to ensure they have the resources, expertise, and support required for this sweeping educational transformation to a fully blended school district” said Scott Ellis, CEO of The Learning Accelerator. “Over the last few years we have seen exciting innovations in blended learning in individual schools across the country, but now we need to accelerate the process and create examples of successful implementation at district scale.”
The partnership’s goal is to support blended learning pilots in multiple schools across the Reynoldsburg district in the fall of 2014, then systematically and effectively scale blended learning throughout the district within a few years. TLA will provide the overall framework for implementation and bring partner organizations in to assist in critical focus areas, including broadband, purchasing, and professional development for educators.
Blended learning is the combination of traditional, face-to-face teaching with elements of personalized, online, mastery-based education that leads to improved student engagement and achievement. At its core, blended learning is the effective use of education technology to transform the learning experience for students.
“My dream has been to offer a truly customized education for every student,” explained Steve Dackin, Reynoldsburg Superintendent. “For us, blended learning is an important tool in making that a reality. The Learning Accelerator offers critical support at a critical time to accelerate and amplify our progress.”
Reynoldsburg was selected for its inventiveness and its commitment to personalized learning—and because it’s a typical American school district. A highly accomplished first-ring suburban district serving 6,300 economically and racially diverse students in 14 schools, Reynoldsburg is a bellwether of demographic shifts among districts across the United States. The district’s percentage of economically disadvantaged students doubled in five years and now stands at 49 percent.
“This is an innovation partnership,” said Lisa Duty, Partner at The Learning Accelerator. “No one has defined all of the needs for a successful district-wide implementation, and we expect the quality of blended offerings to improve significantly in the coming months and years. The plan is to learn together how to enable effective implementation across schools and build a series of scalable solutions that can be applied to help districts across the country.” Duty will work closely with the district on its blended strategy and design.
Over the next several months The Learning Accelerator plans to unveil several similar partnerships with school districts from around the country in its effort to build prototypes for other districts to follow. Beginning in the fall, the group will blog and tweet about its efforts –what works, what doesn’t, and why – to encourage blended learning innovation elsewhere. The partnership has also proposed a panel session to the SXSW.edu community; more information can be found by clicking here.
For more information about TLA, contact Lisa Duty at lisa.duty@learningaccelerator.org. For additional information about Reynoldsburg City Schools, contact Tricia Moore at tmoore@reyn.org.
