The Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education at UVM
In 2005, the Tarrant Foundation partnered with the University of Vermont’s Department of Education and teachers and administrators at Milton Middle School to develop and pilot a student-centered, technology-rich learning program. The program is called I-LEAP: the Learning and Engaging Adolescents Project.
“Today’s young people are immersed in technology everywhere but in school,” says Rich, a successful technology entrepreneur. “Instead of asking students to power down the moment the school day starts, we need to bring technology into the classroom where, combined with good teaching, it can be a powerful tool for engaging young minds.”
Deb continues, “Our goal for the I-LEAP program is to help schools bridge to the 21st century with a strategy designed specifically to attract, engage, and inspire tech savvy youth in their classrooms.”
As a part of this program, middle school teams receive a substantial hardware package, including laptops for each student, interactive SMART Boards – as many as four per classroom, and a host of other technology best suited to the particular needs of each school and classroom.
What sets I-LEAP apart from other technology initiatives is that this technology is accompanied by highest quality, long-term professional development for teachers on how to thoroughly embed technology into curricula. Teachers participate in a graduate-level course at UVM, and are supported by experts in their classrooms over a period of years.
Teachers observe that this style of technology-rich education, which places each student at the center of his or her own learning experience, is effective and engaging. “I am seeing kids that never engaged in class discussion chime in,” says one math teacher. A social studies teacher observed a rise in class participation saying, “For the first time in the history of my teaching career every student’s hand was raised.”
I-LEAP also helps teachers work with the unique talents and needs of each student. An English teacher said, “With this technology I am seeing new opportunities to differentiate instruction for all levels of my students.”
Students and parents agree. “You get to use your voice and express yourself,” said one student. “There’s a point to what we’re learning,” said another. “It’s fun” is a consistent refrain throughout I-LEAP classrooms.
The program’s positive effect can be measured in more traditional ways too. In one parent’s words, “My daughter’s grades have improved since being involved in this program. She has always had a problem with focusing, but now with the laptop, I have seen her sit, focused, completing her work. I really see the advantages of bringing our teaching methods current with technology.”
The work of I-LEAP is focused on the middle school level because research demonstrates that student performance during those years can be a powerful predictor of later academic challenges, including the likelihood of dropout. Half of all dropouts can be identified as early as middle school by one of four key measures: a failing grade in math, a failing grade in English, chronic tardiness or absenteeism, or a pattern of discipline referrals.
In 2009, the Tarrant Foundation announced a $5 million gift to UVM to establish the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education. Building on the work of I-LEAP, the mission of the Institute is to use the power of technology to stimulate student interest and engagement in learning.
Institute Director and Associate Professor at UVM Penny Bishop said, “Despite our awareness of middle school as the ‘last best chance’ for at-risk students, intervention programs are rarely targeted at this age group. One of our hopes for the I-LEAP program is to keep students engaged and in school and eventually decrease the drop-out rate in Vermont.”
The Tarrant Institute will work with middle schools around the state to implement the I-LEAP program, and will serve as a resource for all Vermont educators on how to employ research-based best practices in student-centered, technology-rich learning.
“We want to reach as many Vermont middle school students as possible with this innovative program,” said Rich. “We think it’s a game-changer.”
www.tarrantinstitute.org
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