Our vision is a world where every teacher understands how every student’s brain learns.
Our mission is to elevate teacher effectiveness, student achievement, and the whole child’s school experience using the most promising research and strategies in Mind, Brain, and Education Science.
To fulfill its mission and public purpose, the Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning:
Makes research-informed teaching and learning the central focus of professional learning and growth, and curriculum and program design at St. Andrew’s and in public, charter and international schools around the world.
Creates and delivers professional learning experiences and resources in alignment with research in diversity, equity, and belonging (DEB).
Establishes partnerships with leading university researchers that are committed to enhancing teacher quality, student achievement, and the whole child school experience through the lens of Mind, Brain, and Education science (MBE).
Connects independent and public school teachers, leaders, and policymakers through discourse on translating research into innovative teaching and learning strategies.
Trains, mentors, and coaches public, charter, and private school teachers and school leaders through on-site and online programming
Conducts and translates original research on how the brain learns with leading research universities and like-minded programs.
Shares its expertise with teachers, students, school leaders, parents, and policymakers through its on-site and online programming and its internationally-recognized journal, Think Differently and Deeply.
History
In order to provide the highest quality of research informed teaching at St. Andrew’s, the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning was created in 2011 as an outgrowth of the St. Andrew’s mission to “Know and inspire each student in an inclusive community dedicated to exceptional teaching, learning, and service.”
The CTTL’s priority is to ensure that 100% of St. Andrew’s Pre-school through 12th grade teachers receive training and ongoing professional development (every school year) in Mind, Brain, and Education Science, the most innovative thinking being applied to enhancing teacher quality and student achievement today.
In 2013, Research Schools International (RSI) led by individual faculty from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education (HGSE) invited St. Andrew’s to become the eighth school in the world to join its global network of schools in the United States, Europe, Australia and South America that conducts cutting-edge research, leads professional development and disseminates research findings to the global educational community.
In 2016, the International Mind, Brain and Education Society awarded the CTTL for its work with the IMBES Mission Award “that recognizes PreK – 12 educators, institutions or programs demonstrating success in establishing, building and supporting infrastructure that enhances collaboration between themselves and MBE researchers for the purpose of improving educational knowledge and practice”.
St. Andrew’s is the only school in the Washington, DC region that houses an internationally recognized Mind, Brain, and Education Science research center. Therefore, it has become a model and opportunity to learn for over 200 different schools and more than 9,000 teachers and leaders who have attended the CTTL’s presentations, workshops, and programs. The CTTL shares its mission-driven public purpose and desire to support St. Andrew’s teachers as exemplars in their use of MBE research-informed strategies through its nationally recognized publication Think Differently and Deeply, which is written by St. Andrew’s pre-school through 12th grade teachers, students, alumni, and the CTTL’s university research partners. More than 10,000 teachers, school leaders, and policymakers have read the CTTL’s publication Think Differently and Deeply’s four volumes, which provide models for how teachers can use research to inform the design of their classes and to work more effectively with each student. As the Director of Research at Wellington College in England said, “If you want to learn 1,000 times more about Mind, Brain, and Education Science, read Think Differently and Deeply.”