CIESC/Keep Indiana Learning has been awarded a $2.6 million Indiana Department of Education’s Student Learning Recovery Grant! We are thrilled to announce a grant partnership with Modern Classroom Project (MCP), CELL/UIndy, Region 8 ESC, NIESC, and NWIESC. This grant will support educators in shifting their pedagogy to build classrooms which personalize the unique needs of all learners.

CIESC is partnering with Modern Classroom Project (MCP) to provide training, mentoring, coaching, and ongoing support as educators work to redesign lessons and teaching methods to better differentiate instruction to each students’ needs.

The MCP’s innovative, research-backed model equips educators with three core practices:

1. Blended Instruction:  Teachers record instructional videos to replace in-class lectures. This allows students to learn at their own paces and frees teachers to provide targeted individual and small-group support in class. It also helps students continue to learn if they are absent from school.
2. Self-Paced Structures: Teachers build systems which allow students to learn at their own individual paces while meeting essential learning objectives and deadlines. This builds self-regulation skills and ensures students always have appropriately challenging material.
3. Mastery-Based Grading: Teachers check for mastery at the end of each lesson and give students credit only once they’ve demonstrated a full understanding of content and skills. This prevents learning gaps from forming while helping students build self-confidence and grit.

This Edutopia video highlights Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C., which has adopted this model, and the US Department of Education is recommending this approach for “self-direction, personalization, and collaboration.”

To learn more about the impact of the Modern Classroom Project’s blended, self-paced, mastery-based approach, Johns Hopkins University released the results of a multi-year control study.

CIESC’s goal is to train up to 1,500 educators across Indiana in this self-paced, mastery-based instructional model. Teachers interested in implementing this approach in their classrooms will participate in an 8-week asynchronous training program where they will:

• Work closely with an experienced teacher-mentor to build three full Modern Classroom lessons and receive detailed feedback.
• Attend expert-led presentations on a variety of topics related to effective differentiated instruction.
• Connect with specialists and peers through regular office hours and discussion boards.

Educators will leave Phase One with a clear plan for implementing blended, self-paced, mastery-based instruction in their own classrooms.

Phase Two of the training will include ongoing support during implementation. This will involve site visits, virtual implementer discussions, 1-on-1 expert consultation calls, and admin debriefs. This follow-up support will ensure that all participants have the skills and support necessary to fully implement the model.

Educators in the program will also:

• Receive training on measuring growth and achievement using formative assessment data/models to measure impact on student learning. Teachers are required to report student data periodically for the purposes of grant reporting.
• Be awarded 20 PGPs for their full participation.

There is no cost to the 1,500 teachers or districts who participate in the grant-sponsored MCP training, as all training materials, training fees, and other incurred costs are covered by the grant.

Follow the teachers’ and their students’ progress on Keep Indiana Learning and on Twitter @KeepINLearning.