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New CTTL Platform, Neuroteach Global, Launches in Rural Colorado

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The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School launched Neuroteach Global, a first-of-its-kind virtual professional development experience for teachers in January in Delta County, Colorado. During this launch, Glenn Whitman, Director of the CTTL, and Dr. Ian Kelleher, Head of Research for the CTTL, guided 350 teachers as they embarked on their training in Mind, Brain, and Education Science.

Delta County School District, located in rural Colorado, is the first school district in the world to train 100% of its teachers and administrators through Neuroteach Global.

“It is our belief that our teachers are our best resource when it comes to student achievement,” said Kurt Clay, Assistant Superintendent of the Delta County School District. “Mind, Brain, and Education Science helps our teachers not only with instruction, but with understanding how students learn the most efficiently and effectively. Neuroteach Global extends that learning for our teachers and puts the theory into practice for our teachers.”

Developed in partnership with the software firm Talented, and with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Omidyar Group, Neuroteach Global (NTG) delivers online micro-learning experiences that allow teachers and school leaders to translate into classroom practice the latest evidence on how teacher quality, student outcomes, and student well-being can be enhanced through the Science of Learning.

Neuroteach Global is only possible because of the commitment of St. Andrew’s teachers to studying and applying research in the field of Mind, Brain, and Education Science. Since 2007, the school has maintained the MBE training of all preschool through 12th grade teachers and administrators. The experience and internationally recognized leadership of St. Andrew’s teachers in bringing MBE research to classroom translation was critical to the design of Neuroteach Global. Teachers from all four divisions of the school participated in the Alpha and Beta pilots of Neuroteach Global. There are currently 14 St. Andrew’s teachers working toward their MBE Level I certification through Neuroteach Global, which will be the next level of training for the entire St. Andrew’s faculty later in 2019.  

Each of the four Neuroteach Global tracks – Curriculum Design, Pedagogy and Assessment, Strategies for Student Success and Wellbeing, and Learning Environments – consist of three micro-courses, which take about an hour to complete. Participants learn, through spaced practice and storified experiences, about how they can apply Mind, Brain, and Education Science research. Neuroteach Global is the first virtual professional development experience that uses the Science of Learning to teach the Science of Learning.

Each micro-course also provides teachers a chance to receive feedback on the classroom application of the research, enabling the CTTL to sustain its relationship with participants beyond a two-day workshop or the week-long Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy.

“It’s not one and done,” said Dr. Kelleher. “Crucially, they have the next year for spaced practice to go deeper with Neuroteach Global.”

Whitman said launching Neuroteach Global with public school teachers and school leaders speaks to the CTTL’s mission.

“When we launched the CTTL in 2011, we wanted a large percentage of our work to have a public purpose,” Whitman said. “I think (launching in Delta County) validates our commitment to making educational neuroscience accessible regardless of geography or school type. It further validates that a virtual tool of this sort is a solution to closing the educational neuroscience gap that currently exists among teachers and school leaders.”

Through teachers’ engagement with the platform, lessons in the web-based app are unlocked for teachers and school leaders in under-resourced areas of the world at no cost. Participants in Delta County, as an example, are helping teachers at Uhuru Gardens Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya (657 students in grades 1-8) gain access to Neuroteach Global.

Watch the video to learn more about Neuroteach Global and visit http://www.neuroteach.us to sign up for the platform.