Neuroteach Global

Neuroteach Global

Glenn Whitman, The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning

Executive Summary

The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) was created in 2011 to be the research and professional development arm of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, training teachers in Mind, Brain, and Education Science to improve student learning locally, nationally, and globally. The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning CTTL is building and refining Neuroteach Global, a professional development tool that uses technology and the science of learning to revolutionize how educators develop their understanding of the Science of Learning and their ability to translate research into actions in their schools, classrooms, and their personalized work with students. In essence, Neuroteach Global uses the science of learning to teach the Science of Learning.

Challenge: Ineffective Teacher Professional Development

Regardless of race, class, or geographic location, all students deserve an expert teacher who understands the most promising Science of Learning research and who can design, implement and support effective programs and environments that lead to student success and well-being. Early childhood through 12th-grade teachers spend an average of 19 days per year participating in trainings designed to teach behavorial change theory at a cost of more than $2.5 billion dollars at the federal level alone. Unfortunately, evidence is mounting that little is achieved as a result of these efforts to understand effective learning behavior.

Solution: Designing for True Behavioral Change

NTG believes that administrators and teachers are the ultimate stewards of the student learning environment and organ (the brain), and that investing in human capital development is the most efficient and effective way to facilitate MBE Science of Learning research and effect predictable student success. Whether administrators are working with teachers, teachers are working with students, or students are developing themselves, our behavioral change pathways start with engagement as a gateway to learning, learning as a gateway to behavioral change, and behavioral change as a gateway to impact.

NTG will integrate current CTTL curriculum and in-person programming into a series of 24 engaging and effective gamified micro-learning courses that can be experienced by teachers anytime, anywhere, on the device of their choosing. Pilot results of our first micro-course showed 91% of participants self-reporting improved knowledge of applied neuroscientific research and 70% of teachers applying new skills in their classrooms after less than 1 micro-course hour. Neuroteach Global is a scalable, digital-first professional learning experience supported by on-site learning engineers that use the science of learning to train teachers and school leaders in the Science of Learning.

NTG focuses on the whole child to empower students to find greater academic, social, and emotional success as a foundation for closing achievement gaps in critical subjects such as math and literacy. NTG delivers research in areas such as: memory, engagement, project-based learning, executive function, and metacognition, alongside belonging, well-being, identity validation, and mental health. Teachers also receive feedback as they move through the program, and as they translate research into practice through a series of scaffolded, real-world challenges in their schools, classrooms, and work with students.