New Tools and Social Practices to Address Core Problems of Practice

Our research and development efforts consciously focus on the near horizon — things that can be developed now to support and advance the best intentions of educators to teach all students well. Because transforming schools toward more ambitious instruction is a complex undertaking, we act strategically and creatively to identify activity where technology can add real value to practitioners' work while promising to catalyze deeper organizational changes later.

Our research and development activities take root in the day-to-day problems of practice in urban schools trying to advance ambitious teaching and learning for every child. We start with an understanding of the basic problems of practice involved in both adult and student work and seek to develop new tools and social practices to add value to that work. We focus on three areas: