PRESS RELEASE
2000 Common
Core lessons by top teachers answers biggest question mark on day one
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 28, 2012 – This
back-to-school season includes more than new classes and students for teachers.
Forty-five states have agreed to adopt new Common Core State Standards in the
next three years, but 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.
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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.
Contact: Jonathan Krasnov
Phone:
203/247-1015
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