Blog

What do Spotify, Fitbit and Venmo share in common? They were created via a human-centered design¹. Soon to join that list: student assessments; that is, student assessments crafted via an equitable human-centered design.  In our previous blog, “Designing for Equity: Innovative Assessments in a Post-COVID World,” we identified a reality prevalent for many educators, students and their communities: The pandemic...
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Grants made by the Emerging Bilingual Collaborative, a sponsored project of New Venture Fund, will help nine local education agencies support professional learning opportunities for educators serving Multilingual Learners from pre-K through Grade 3.  The Emerging Bilingual Collaborative, a sponsored project of the New Venture Fund backed by a coalition of five California-based philanthropic funders, is pleased to announce $1.78...
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The effects of COVID-19 on our nation’s schools cannot be overstated. It has, and continues to, dramatically change how students, educators, parents and community members interact and engage with the education system. It has also affected the needs of our schools systems’ innovation leaders. Those tasked with the role of creating new solutions, school models and strategies to spur district...
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Several years ago, we asked ourselves the question: “What can districts and teacher preparation programs, when partnering closely together, do to ensure that teachers are ready to support all students to succeed?” Together, with the Joyce Foundation, we embarked on a journey to learn from successful partnerships nationwide, and built a roadmap with 10 recommendations to define how they prepare...
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Education First is proud to support a group of leading teacher preparation transformation centers (the Centers),  technical assistance providers that support teacher preparation programs. The Centers, with the support of Education First, developed the DEI Companion Document to the Teacher Preparation Outcomes and Indicators, a guide to deepening a teacher preparation program’s focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism (DEIA)....
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Education First is proud to support a group of leading teacher preparation transformation centers (the Centers), technical assistance providers that support teacher preparation programs. The Centers, with the support of Education First, developed the DEI Companion Document to the Teacher Preparation Outcomes and Indicators, a guide to deepening a teacher preparation program’s focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism (DEIA)....
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There have been a lot of articles on the current state of education, what districts are doing in response to COVID-19, and ideas about what should happen post-pandemic in public education. Many of these articles share a call for re-envisioning the work of districts beyond direct responses to the current COVID-19 challenge. In the fall of 2021, we began gathering...
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Education First is proud to support a group of leading teacher preparation transformation centers (the Centers), technical assistance providers that support teacher preparation programs. The Centers, with the support of Education First, developed the DEI Companion Document to the Teacher Preparation Outcomes and Indicators, a guide to deepening a teacher preparation program’s focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism (DEIA)....
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Teacher preparation programs and those that support them must prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism in their efforts to prepare a more robust and diverse teacher pipeline. That is why a group of leading Teacher Preparation Transformation Centers—technical assistance providers working with teacher preparation programs (the Centers) and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation* and Education First—came together...
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“When was the last time you were at a gathering and the ‘subjects’ of a study talked about it in glowing terms, because the research helped the practical work?”—Rami Nashashibi¹ At Education First, we work closely with systems leaders to address some of the biggest issues in public education. And all too often, we see these leaders and researchers design...
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