Like most people who decide to go into education, I think a lot about the teachers, coaches, and mentors who changed my life.
I think about Mr. Long, who didn’t just teach me how to build robots, but made me feel like I could. I think about my tennis coach, Mr. Swanson, who showed me what it means to be a leader. When the courts are covered in snow, you don’t go home. You grab a shovel.
For decades, researchers have been telling us that this whole child approach to education really matters — that in addition to academic skills, kids need opportunities to build confidence in their own potential. Students who can envision a world of possibility for themselves are more motivated and engaged to learn.
This is why CZI is committed to helping all students reach their full potential. You can read about our work in education below — but in brief, we’re building up the body of research to learn what helps students succeed, and we’re using those findings to build new tools for and with teachers.
One of our goals for this work is to give teachers new ways to understand and measure their students' growth and the learning environments that set students up for success — in academics, and across all the dimensions that lead to long-term success. I’m excited to share some early results in my newsletter, and to shine a spotlight on schools that are leading the way.
