Digital Promise Global

Digital equity: the Digital equity team works to advance powerful learning in schools and districts across the u.s. by advocating against and solving for inequities in broadband access and the inequitable distribution and use of powerful technology in schools, and by creating initiatives, establishing partnerships, and influencing policy at the state and federal levels that address the Digital learning gap at scale. Its flagship program is verizon innovative learning schools. In 2023, verizon innovative learning schools launched its 10th cohort of schools, expanding the program to a total of 592 middle and high schools in 104 districts nationwide with collectively more than 620,000 students. Digital Promise also released white papers on Digital equity and Digital transformation in 2023.

Global networks: through Digital Promise's networks, we surface and spread insights and innovations among education participants. The league of innovative schools connects forward-thinking leaders across more than 150 districts in 38 states and has cumulatively served more than 4.4 million students since its founding. In 2023, Digital Promise co-hosted a convening for league members in talladega, Alabama, alongside talladega county schools, as well as an advocacy-focused event, league on the hill, in which league leaders met with members of congress to make the case for increased federal investment in education r&d. Digital Promise also continued its support of helping educators and education leaders around the country to organize and attend edcamps in their communities, which are free public events that are educator designed and led. In 2023, Digital Promise continued to expand its Global work. The Global cities education network is a network of international city education systems designed to collaboratively identify, examine, and adapt internationally benchmarked solutions to common problems of practice. In 2023, gcen members convened in lexington, Kentucky, for its annual symposium to discuss and share promising solutions to education challenges with Global applications. Finally, Digital Promise completed the first year and continued into a second year of pilot implementation for the haiti blended learning pilot, which brings together a consortium of partners to address some of haiti's education challenges through the combination of Digital and face-to-face instruction.

Powerful learning: powerful learning is rooted in principles that empower both educators and learners, emphasizing collaboration, agency and the use of innovative tools and strategies to create impactful educational experiences. In 2023, the hp teaching fellows continued to advance powerful learning through regional and national conference presentations, leading discussions that enriched the learning community with insights and professional experiences. Through the ciena solutions challenge, Digital Promise and ciena awarded 20 project teams $2,500 to sustain and scale student-led projects. Students also shared their work with a Global audience at the 2023 youthmade festival, Digital Promise's Global celebration of youth creativity and innovation. The learner variability project (lvp) leverages emerging research to uncover strategies that meet the diverse needs of learners. In 2023, the lvp updated its learner variability navigator to include new research-based strategies, further supporting educators in meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities.

Center for inclusive innovation: Digital Promise's center for inclusive innovation (cii) partners with communities and school districts to reimagine education by building their capacity to create equitable and powerful learning opportunities alongside students and families. In 2023, cii supported a national cohort of 10 districts in implementing the second year of our cybersecurity pathways initiative, a three-year program that will create pathways to gainful employment for historically and systematically excluded high school youth. Additionally, cii received a grant from the william and flora hewlett foundation to scale our socratic circles model designed by reynoldsburg city schools (oh) which supports teachers in guiding culturally responsive discussions in the classroom and in bristol township school district (pa), which resulted in students co-designing a student-led professional development for teachers on the effects of racial inequity on learners. Throughout 2023, cii continued to leverage research as a powerful tool for equity and improvement through evaluation partnerships with verizon innovative learning schools, verizon stem achievers, Illinois education association, and educators leading the profession.

Center for learning sciences research: learning sciences research (lsr) focuses on the why, what, and how of learning, in and out of school. In 2023, the lsr team took initial steps to establish Digital Promise as a leader in the artificial intelligence in education sector. This included supporting the u.s. department of education in developing their first ai policy report, artificial intelligence and the future of teaching and learning: insights and recommendations, which guides educators in understanding the opportunities and risks of emerging technologies. Digital Promise continued to advance its work on early learning research and developed preschool stem resources with the education development center and wgbh educational foundation. In addition, the lsr team continued to foster communities of researchers, educators, and practitioners through grants awarded by organizations including the national science foundation, the bill & melinda gates foundation, and carnegie corporation of new york.