Grants

Digital Promise Global

Project Title

For final core support of the Center for Inclusive Innovation

Date

Mar. 06, 2025

Duration

12 months

Description

Digital Promise’s Center of Inclusive Innovation (CII) was founded in 2011 with Corporation support to promote collaborative research and design between districts, students, families, and communities. Following a seminal 2019 research paper, CII developed the Inclusive Innovation model. This model is grounded in evidence showing that effective solutions require the direct involvement of those most affected by educational inequities in both problem definition and solution development. CII has reached over 4.4M students, 180k practitioners, 300 school districts, and seventy-seven countries through its diverse partnerships and practitioner networks, anchored by the League of Innovative Schools. Previous support from the Corporation enabled CII to codify and launch the Inclusive Innovation model, publish articles and host webinars, and build the capacity to package the model for broader dissemination. Renewed support will enable CII to respond to demand for the implementation of the Inclusive Innovation model.

Project Title

For core support of the Center for Inclusive Innovation

Date

Sep. 15, 2022

Duration

30 months

Description

Years of innovation have yielded proven school models and programs that have moved the needle on student achievement. However, these innovations have often been created for rather than with communities, hindering their sustainability in those communities that have been most underserved by our education system. Digital Promise directly addresses this challenge through its Center for Inclusive Innovation, which was launched with Corporation support two years ago and supports school districts in leading transformation by employing an equity-centered R&D approach. The current Corporation grant supports the implementation of a district-community partnership to support students experiencing mental health challenges in the context of racial trauma, as well as the Center’s early efforts to codify and share learnings. Continued support from the Corporation would build on those efforts by documenting, refining, and packaging the extensive cumulative learnings across the Center’s projects; demonstrating the promise of Inclusive Innovation through research; and broadening the Center’s field-building to scale the capacity for equity-centered R&D within the education ecosystem. 

Project Title

For a project to develop a research community in science education focused on the study of OpenSciEd curriculum implementation

Date

Sep. 15, 2022

Duration

24 months

Description

OpenSciEd is an initiative that brings together state science leaders, expert curriculum developers, researchers, and classroom teachers to develop and support a complete set of high-quality open-source science instructional materials and associated professional learning resources. There is an increasing number of schools and systems across multiple states that are adopting and implementing the OpenSciEd curriculum, creating a unique opportunity for the science education research community to contribute to the knowledge about effective and equitable curriculum implementation and ongoing curriculum-based professional learning. Digital Promise Global is committed to improving research efforts in education, and this renewal grant will ensure they continue engaging diverse science education community members to articulate a field-driven and equity-centered research agenda focused on the implementation of OpenSciEd curriculum.

Project Title

For development of the Inclusive Innovation Center and OpenSciEd Research Agenda

Date

Sep. 10, 2020

Duration

27 months

Description

Creation of and access toinnovative school models, programs, and curriculais often inequitably distributed, excludingthose students and communities that have historically been most underserved by our education system. Digital Promise, a nonprofitlaunchedby the Corporationin 2008to close the digital learning gap such that all students can access a high-qualityeducation,haslong centered equity in all ofits work and, over the past decade, has cultivated expertise in research, educatorprofessionallearning, and network facilitation.Now, Digital Promise proposes two projectsthat will leverage these areas of expertise to address different elements of educational inequity. First,toengage all stakeholders, especially historically marginalized community members, in the process of school improvement, Digital Promise will launch the Inclusive Innovation Center.Second, to address inequitable access to high-quality instructional materials, Digital Promise willdevelopand launch anOpenSciEdResearch Agenda.

Project Title

For a project to develop alignment between research and practice, infrastructures for cross-sector collaboration and competency-based professional learning

Date

Sep. 13, 2018

Duration

24 months

Description

Developments in the use of new technologies have demonstrated great promise to improve learning opportunities for all. Yet, the lack of alignment between research and practice, infrastructure for cross-sector collaboration, and relevant, competency-based professional learning for educators impedes the creation of effective teaching and learning solutions. Digital Promise was founded in 2005 to address these gaps, by working with education leaders, researchers, and technology developers to improve learning opportunities. Building on the current grants, Digital Promise will build the capacity of its networks to improve the alignment between research and practice and will test a competency-based professional development program for teachers focused on computational thinking supported by the use of micro-credentials.

Project Title

For support of the Research@Work and Education Innovation Clusters initiatives

Date

Sep. 07, 2017

Duration

36 months

Description

While innovative programs have emerged to harness the power of technology in service of personalized, competency-based learning, they vary in quality and often operate in isolation. With Corporation support, Digital Promise has developed two initiatives to facilitate the realization of technology’s promise to provide all students with the learning experiences required for success in the 21st century. Education Innovation Clusters (EdClusters) seeks to break down siloes across key actors – educators, researchers, education technology entrepreneurs, funders, and other education stakeholders – and facilitate collaboration to promote the design, implementation, and dissemination of promising learning tools and practices. Research@Work builds educator capacity to apply research-based strategies by increasing practitioner access to usable education and learning science research. Corporation support will enable Digital Promise to deepen and expand its impact across these two initiatives.

Project Title

For support to conduct a strategic planning initiative

Date

Sep. 08, 2016

Duration

6 months

Description

Digital Promise, a leader in education technology and innovation, works with educators, technologists, researchers, and leading thinkers to spur research and development to improve education. A Corporation grantee since it launched in 2011, Digital Promise has expanded to support a suite of eight initiatives, including the League of Innovative Schools focused on advancing digital transformation in K-12 education and educator micro-credentials, which advances competency-based learning for educators. This grant supports Digital Promise to develop a strategic plan to refine its goals and vision and serve as a framework through which to make decisions and allocate resources as it continues to deepen and expand its initiatives and impact.

Project Title

For a project to advance professional learning with educator micro-credentials

Date

Sep. 08, 2016

Duration

24 months

Description

Digital Promise is non-profit organization that works with educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and leading thinkers to advance a comprehensive agenda that includes documenting and sharing successful innovations and initiatives to mobilize and build capacity for systemic change. This grant provides support for Digital Promise to deepen and expand its educator micro-credential initiative, which combines competency-based learning and technology to enable and support personalized learning for educators. Digital Promise will target new issuers to develop additional micro-credentials, increase the number of educators who earn micro-credentials, and increase the number of states, districts, and other relevant parties who recognize micro-credentials.

Project Title

For development of Education Innovation Clusters and continued support of the Research@Work initiative

Date

Sep. 17, 2015

Duration

24 months

Project Title

For competency-based micro-credentials for professional educators

Date

Sep. 11, 2014

Duration

24 months

Project Title

For support of a research initiative on education technology

Date

Mar. 06, 2014

Duration

18 months

Project Title

For general support

Date

Sep. 13, 2012

Duration

18 months

Project Title

For general support

Date

Dec. 15, 2011

Duration

6 months