Learnzillion Tackles New Back-to-School Challenge: how to Teach Rigorous New Standards?
2,000 Common Core lessons by top teachers answers biggest question mark on day one
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- This back-to-school season includes more than new classes and students for teachers. Forty-five states have agreed to adopt the new Common Core State Standards in the next three years, but they have provided teachers and administrators with little guidance on how to implement these significant changes in their classrooms and schools. LearnZillion, a social enterprise, has a practical solution with a very attractive price tag. The company is announcing today that it has launched the first of 2,000 online lessons going live this fall to help teachers, schools and districts adopt the Common Core—all of which are free for students and teachers.
LearnZillion believes in celebrating teachers. This summer it recruited some of the country's best teachers to translate their proven approaches into concise high-quality "screencasts" with the support of education experts, content coaches and technology support. With assistance from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this "Dream Team" of 123 teachers rallied in Atlanta, Georgia, from June 20-23rd for the inaugural "TeachFest" to breakdown the Common Core Standards and to develop the best approaches to lesson creation.
As a result, LearnZillion's platform will allow teachers to plan their individual lessons – or entire week, month or year – using a single collection of outstanding lessons from the nation's top teachers and know that content is directly aligned to the Common Core. They can also assign lessons directly to students. One week, a fourth grader might learn fractions on a number line from Ms. Jones in New York. The next week he might learn how to add those fractions from his own teacher who adopted a lesson by Mr. Smith in California. This approach has the potential to significantly impact the way most subjects are taught in our schools, and could mark a great leap for education in the US.
LearnZillion was founded by two former teachers who met at Stanford Graduate School of Business: Eric Westendorf and Alix Guerrier. Westendorf incubated LearnZillion as the Chief Academic Officer at E.L. Haynes PCS, a top performing charter school in Washington D.C. After a successful beta-test at E.L. Haynes last spring, LearnZillion received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NewSchools Venture Fund, the Achievement Network, LearnCapital, O'Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures, DC Community Ventures and others to seed high-quality content and develop a web-based platform.
For more information, please visit www.LearnZillion.com, or contact Jonathan Krasnov to coordinate interviews with LearnZillion Founders.
About LearnZillion
LearnZillion is a social enterprise hosting an online learning platform, founded by former principal Eric Westendorf and former teacher Alix Guerrier, that helps teachers and parents meet the educational needs of every student. We capture examples of great teaching and share it with teachers and students across the country. Each lesson highlights a Common Core standard and can be used for direct instruction and differentiation.
Media Contact: Jonathan Krasnov LearnZillion, 203-247-1015, [email protected]
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