Throughline Learning
Project Title
As a final general support grant
Date
Mar. 07, 2024
Duration
24 months
Description
Students from historically marginalized communities face greater barriers to higher education and economic mobility and the schools that serve them often have the least capacity to bridge the gap, dual challenges that were exacerbated by the pandemic. As schools seek to address these challenges while also navigating teacher shortages, programs that personalize learning and reimagine the teacher role are needed more than ever. Throughline Learning (Throughline) has been focused on improving the educational experiences of underserved students for over fifteen years, helping schools implement personalized, culturally relevant teaching practices at scale. Based in Rhode Island, Throughline has built extensive relationships across the state by collaborating with every local school district and established itself as a national leader in the field of student-centered practices. With Corporation support, Throughline developed a school model and instructional toolkit, which they have equipped 3,000 educators to implement, reaching approximately 40,000 students. Recent Corporation support seeded Throughline’s Community Educator model, which is training a new generation of teachers to address staffing challenges and meet students’ academic, social, and emotional needs. This final grant will enable Throughline to expand the number of schools implementing this approach by working with in-service and aspiring educators within the teacher pipeline.
Project Title
For support of a strategic communications process
Date
Dec. 08, 2022
Duration
9 months
Description
The adverse impacts of the pandemic have been disproportionately borne by historically marginalized communities, shining a light on longstanding inequities in our education system and increasing the urgency of addressing them. Highlander Institute has been focused on improving the educational experiences of underserved students for over sixteen years, helping schools and districts implement personalized, culturally relevant teaching and learning practices at scale. Originally founded in 1990 as a nonprofit focused on supporting students with language-based learning differences, and a founding partner of the Highlander Charter School in Providence, RI, Highlander has since expanded and diversified, moving from a focus on literacy, to leveraging innovative technology, to personalized instruction.Given this organizational evolution, Highlander has decidedto establish itself as a non-profit organization separate from the Highlander Charter School andwill be going through a strategic communications process to ensure continued growth and success. Corporation support during this transition period will allow Highlander to re-launch in a strong position for continued expansion and impact, while continuing to fulfill its mission of partnering with communities to create more equitable, relevant, and effective schools.
Project Title
For piloting a new approach to culturally responsive, community-driven schools
Date
Dec. 08, 2022
Duration
18 months
Description
The adverse impacts of the pandemic have been disproportionately borne by historically marginalized communities, shining a light on longstanding inequities in our education system and increasing the urgency of addressing them. Highlander Institute (Highlander) has been focused on improving the educational experiences of underserved students for over fifteen years, helping schools and districts implement personalized, culturally relevant teaching practices at scale. Their expertise has been critical over the past two and half years, during which Highlander has leveraged its existing programming, pedagogical and change management expertise, and trusting relationships to help lead Rhode Island’s recovery efforts. With current Corporation support, Highlander has finalized the development of an instructional toolkit and a community- and educator-driven school change framework. Renewed support will enable Highlander to additionally undertake a pilot project that leverages this framework to bridge the disconnect between schools and communities, and build instructional capacity through a Community Educator program.
Project Title
For expansion of a school-based process to implement blended and personalized learning approaches
Date
Dec. 10, 2020
Duration
24 months
Description
Theneed for personalized learning experiences for students has become even more clear in the context of distance learning and more urgent as the education sector confronts historic inequities. Highlander Institute (Highlander) has been focused on improving the educational experiences of underserved students for over fifteen years and has established itself as an expert partner toteachers and leadersseeking to shift to personalized models at scale.With experience working in everypublic schooldistrict in Rhode Island and coaching thousands of educators nationwide, Highlander developed a framework for leading community-centeredpersonalized learning initiatives, “Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change.”Corporation support has enabled Highlander to pilot thisframework at a set of schools in Rhode Island, yielding promising early resultsthat holdpotential for broader application. With continued support, Highlander will deepen the Pathways school partnerships in eight schools and codify the guidance needed to support whole school replication as well as best practices for a broader set of schoolsacross the country.
Project Title
For expansion of a school-based process to implement blended and personalized learning approaches
Date
Sep. 12, 2019
Duration
24 months
Description
While schools and districts articulate great demand for personalized learning experiences for students, they often lack the capacity to support the instructional shifts required. Highlander Institute (Highlander) has been focused on improving educational experiences of underserved students for over fifteen years and has emerged as an expert partner to schools seeking to shift to personalized models at scale. Highlander’s track record of school partnership and classroom-level expertise make it a uniquely effective partner. Having supported all traditional public school districts in Rhode Island and coached more than 700 teachers nationwide, Highlander published a framework for integrating personalized learning: “Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change.” With previous support, Highlander piloted the framework at the whole-school level at Dutemple Elementary School in Cranston, RI, with promising early results. With continued support over two years, Highlander will work with Dutemple and four additional schools to implement and scale the framework in a variety of contexts, build implementation guidance for the field, and deepen organizational capacity to support the transformation of learning environments at scale.
Project Title
For support of piloting a school based process to implement blended and personalized learning approaches to serve as a proof point for broader district application
Date
Mar. 08, 2018
Duration
18 months
Description
Highlander Institute (Highlander) is dedicated to cultivating and disseminating innovative education solutions that build educator and system capacity to provide personalized experiences for every learner. While there is tremendous appetite and interest amongst educators to adopt personalized learning models, schools and districts often do not have a process to support the development of authentic new instructional models, and lack the capacity to facilitate the associated change management. With Corporation support over eighteen months, Highlander will partner with Cranston Rhode Island Public School District to pilot a continuous improvement process for implementing blended and personalized learning at a selected school, which can serve as a model for school based design work in the district and beyond.
Project Title
For support of the 2017 Blended & Personalized Learning Conference
Date
Mar. 02, 2017
Duration
4 months
Description
Highlander Institute’s annual Blended and Personalized Learning Conference (BPLC) brings together the best classroom, school, and district implementers of personalized learning from across the nation to provide inspiration and guidance to educators at different stages and levels of personalized learning initiatives. Major themes for this year’s event include student agency, equity, and scaling promising practices, and the conference will offer participants the information, context, and resources needed to replicate programmatic and strategic elements in their own schools and districts. With Corporation support, experts will convene to design solutions to persistent implementation challenges, share their expertise with conference participants, and learn from their peers. Highlander Institute will also ensure that knowledge is shared beyond the conference through a summary document and featured presenter podcasts available online to conference participants and non-participants alike.