Program areas at Mira Education
Personalizing professional learning: educators prefer to choose from individualized learning options that are as unique as themselves, their schools, and their students.k-12 public school systems spend $18 billion annually on professional development. But only 29% of teachers report high levels of engagement with that learning because it is often misaligned with what teachers and schools need. Not surprisingly, it doesn't always result in improved practice or increased student learning.personalized professional learning is designed to provide greater access to opportunities and resources for a more equitable and inclusive learning environment for students and educators who serve them. To meet the diverse learning needs of students, educators must have firsthand experience in learning that is personalized to their own diverse needs. Mira Education's approach provides a learner-centered system for educators to align their unique professional learning needs with those of their schools, districts, and states.mira Education has supported more than 200 teams to develop and use micro-credentials as a lever for personalized professional learning systems. In conjunction with the university of south carolina, we launched an alternate certification program (carolinacap) utilizing micro-credentials to support preparation of a pipeline of 200+ diverse teachers in districts serving communities that are low-income, majority of color, and/or rural.
Developing collective leadership: we build capacity of educator leaders to assess the impact of their work with colleagues, within their schools, and in their systems.transforming schools requires the expertise and engagement of every educator. Teachers and administrators need support to work as an aligned team. Teams must be inclusive of all roles and perspectives to successfully focus on shared responsibility for identifying challenges, setting goals, and doing the work of school-wide transformation and continuous improvement.mira Education's collective leadership approach begins with clearly articulating the value of bigger circles of leaders that bring a needed diversity of perspectives. As schools and systems identify individual educators' strengths, develop cross-functional teams that leverage those strengths, and build processes to transform teaching and learning, all students and educators are more likely to benefit from their work.mira Education's supported principals and teachers in two states to learn and implement collective leadership practices that accelerate progress on school improvement and equity goals. Two of three participating schools participating in a full year of support showed increases in teacher efficacy, a leading marker of improved academic and other outcomes for students. We also developed a library of 17 on-demand modules to support related leadership development work in ca and nationally.
Supporting educator storytelling: we draw on storytelling tools for schools, districts, and other organizations to share stories that inspire others toward innovation in the field.stories are about showing and sharing unique insights. And the more diverse the roles, cultures, and lived experiences of storytellers, the better. When educators and other leaders share their stories of impact on students, classrooms, and systems, they pave the way for those bright spots to grow from one school or district or organization to another.mira Education coaches educators and partners share their stories and results using field-tested storytelling tools. To ensure that a variety of audiences are engaged and inspired by these compelling narratives, we also design and assist partners in implementing effective communication strategies to share their stories.mira Education facilitated retreats for educators and partners to capture success and learnings from pandemic-era instruction and celebrate the responsiveness of public schools to challenges faced.