Tools
The best educators supplement their professional judgment with hard data about their students’ learning, which informs instruction by confirming whether students are on track and illuminating areas and individual students that need attention. This approach can be even more powerful at the school and school system level, where such data can be used to analyze progress across classrooms, plan for necessary support, and allocate resources accordingly. However, most school systems lack the tools and infrastructure they need to harness these data in a way that can inform instructional decisions for teachers and students. Currently, the market for such products is crowded with mediocre products designed to address specific compliance needs rather than coherent academic systems designed to support instructional improvement.
As such, the NewSchools Innovation Fund will seek to ensure that schools and systems have the tools and information they need to optimize student learning by increasing the effectiveness of instructional delivery. We will support entrepreneurial ventures that contribute to the development of strong academic systems – ranging from data-analysis tools to new instructional content platforms to assessment “item banks” to solutions that track college readiness and success – that are designed to maximize each child’s learning potential and create feedback loops for educators and for parents. Many of these will include a significant technology component, given the ability of computer and Web-based systems to increase customization while driving down costs.
In addition, we want to explore emerging opportunities for integrating formative assessments and real-time information systems, with student-centered technologies to fundamentally alter and personalize the way in which teachers and students engage with one another, in order to dramatically raise achievement levels for underserved students. In so doing, we hope to create a vibrant marketplace of instructional tools – products, platforms and services – that enable improvement and excellence in a variety of learning environments.