Supporting Innovation

In education, best practice is grounded in both research and what is happening in real classrooms.  For the past 15 years, Teaching Matters has led the way in the development and implementation of school-level educational innovations made possible by technology in the largest urban school system in America.  Partnering with foundations, frontline educators, content experts, and technologists, we pursue a new standard for student success; one that strikes a balance between core academic and 21st century skills and prepares students for their futures.

The Role Our Donors Play

Our donors enable us to develop and test interventions that address the common challenges of our school  partners. Each day, Teaching Matters works side by side with classroom educators.  As such, we are uniquely situated to observe the real constraints that prevent schools from preparing students for success in the digital age.  By focusing development to address the  specific constraints and challenges of real classrooms,  we improve the likelihood that schools will adopt innovations necessary to meet the needs of today’s students. We judge our success on how well a program or  intervention resonates with educators, scales, and becomes a self-sustaining replicable model or resource.

Donor support enables Teaching Matters to address key educational challenges as social entrepreneurs, undertaking initiatives related to:

• A self assessment tool for aspiring 21st Century Schools
• Low-cost technology for urban middle schools
• Teacher-friendly web publishing and collaboration tools
• A school-wide writing assessment and teacher coaching model
• Technology-enhanced writing instruction for upper elementary and middle school students
• Learning management systems to enhance the home-school connection
• A model high-tech 6-12 school
• A digital age civics curriculum
• A technology-integrated, balanced literacy classroom, K-5
• Live online, at-home learning for educators