{"id":14093,"date":"2021-02-03T11:55:59","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T16:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?p=14093"},"modified":"2021-02-03T11:55:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T16:55:59","slug":"innovation-is-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/innovation-is-everywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation Is Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Originally published in\u00a0<\/em>Education Week<\/a><\/u><\/em>\u00a0under the title, “Stop Ignoring the Innovation That Happens in Traditional Public Schools.” Reprinted with permission from the authors.<\/em><\/p>\n

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When students at Childersburg Middle School<\/a> head to the library, there’s far more to do than read a book. Two summers ago, their teachers divided the space into a cozy reading area and the “GRID,” a hands-on engineering lab where students work in groups and learn through the process of design. Back in their regular classrooms, teachers guide projects that build on that learning, and that continues online at home.<\/p>\n

Though Childersburg sounds like an independent school with lots of freedom and funding, it is actually a traditional public school in rural Alabama. What’s going on there is showing how teachers and students in a variety of district public schools are embracing innovation. But we’ve only just recently learned about Childersburg through\u00a0the Canopy project<\/a>, a new effort by the Clayton Christensen Institute to identify promising practices in schools across the United States that have, to date, largely escaped notice.<\/p>\n

As program officers at three national education foundations, we know that educators everywhere are making big changes in teaching and learning. But the education community\u2014funders like us, along with state and federal decision-makers, district and school leaders, researchers, and advocates\u2014has not had a ready source of detailed information about innovators outside established networks or major urban centers. As a result, only a few schools gain widespread attention, and models that are relevant to educators working in a variety of contexts remain under the radar.<\/p>\n

As program officers at three national education foundations, we know that educators everywhere are making big changes in teaching and learning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That inspired our support of Canopy, which invites local educators and education experts to nominate their peers for inclusion in a detailed registry of innovation. Canopy has introduced us to schools like Stilwell High School<\/a> in Oklahoma, where students combine academics with internships and career-readiness coursework, and Barrington Middle School in Rhode Island, where teachers serve as mentors and students design and complete collaborative projects. This group of 235 schools, nearly three-quarters of which had never before appeared on well-known lists or databases, is helping those of us working at a national level look beyond the familiar and better understand how widespread new practices have become.<\/p>\n

Such understanding is critical for our roles as grantmakers. While we fund a narrow fraction of education overall, the programs we support tend to attract attention and visibility, including the research that can determine which programs enhance student success.<\/p>\n

From our perspective as funders, four key lessons stand out:<\/p>\n