St. Andrew’s Episcopal School and the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) have been awarded a $250,000 EE Ford Educational Leadership Grant, becoming the first school to ever receive two such grants from the EE Ford Foundation. St. Andrew’s previously was awarded the leadership grant, the largest one the EE Ford Foundation annually hands out, in 2015.
“St. Andrew’s and the CTTL have been harnessing technology to bring the tools of cognitive neuroscience to teachers throughout the world and they now want to expand this effort to include students,” said John Gulla, Executive Director of the EE Ford Foundation. “The EE Ford Foundation has supported them in this work before and is pleased and proud to have made a second Educational Leadership Grant to the school for this exemplar of an effective program demonstrating the public purpose of a private school.”
St. Andrew’s was awarded its current grant to help build Neuroteach Global Student (NTGS), a companion to the CTTL’s highly successful Neuroteach Global, a first-of-its-kind digital professional development experience, rooted in MBE Science and currently used by thousands of teachers around the world. When completed, NTGS will help students build academic confidence, resilience, and performance by helping them learn how their own brains work and how to apply that knowledge to their own learning.
“Neuroteach Global Student (NTGS) provides a novel learning experience that uses the Science of Learning to teach students the Science of Learning,” said Glenn Whitman, Director of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. “Our goal is to elevate 100% of St. Andrew’s students’ understanding of the research-informed strategies that can enhance their academic achievement and make them more efficient, confident, and healthy students. St. Andrew’s students will play a critical role in the building of NTGS as members of the team that will design this virtual learning experience. After launching at St. Andrew’s, NTGS will be shared with students from around the world.”
All EE Ford Leadership Grants are matching grants meaning St. Andrew’s will raise $250,000 from like-minded foundations and individuals to match the award. This is the fifth time St. Andrew’s has won a grant from the EE Ford Foundation. In addition to the Leadership Grant in 2015, St. Andrew’s also won grants in 1986 for professional development, 1999 for faculty laptops and 2005 for service learning.
“As the only school ever to receive a second leadership grant from the E.E. Ford Foundation, St. Andrew’s has strengthened its global reputation as a pioneer in research-informed education,” said St. Andrew’s Head of School Robert Kosasky. “As we build Neuroteach Global Student, the CTTL will provide St. Andrew’s students a singular opportunity to create, test, and benefit from this innovative and visionary new learning tool.”
The 2015 Leadership Grant helped launch the Science of Teaching and School Leadership Academy, which began in July 2017 and has been held every summer since. St. Andrew’s Upper School students will pilot NTGS in 2021, completion of NTGS is expected to become a St. Andrew’s graduation requirement by 2022, and NTGS is expected to reach at least 10,000 private and public school students by 2024, with subsidized rates for schools that could not otherwise afford to participate.