Impact Florida launched its fifth learning cadre today as part of its Districts for Impact initiative, focused on sharing and promoting promising practices across districts. Four Florida school districts will participate in the cadre, focused on strengthening professional learning practices: Hillsborough, Pinellas, Osceola, and Sarasota counties.
“On the heels of the adoption of new instructional materials in English Language Arts, investing in thoughtful professional learning is a non-negotiable action for improved student outcomes,” said Impact Florida President Mandy Clark. “This Professional Learning Cadre provides districts a place to work together with national experts and each other to ensure equitable and effective implementation of these new materials.”
The new cadre comes as the organization celebrates its second year of operation. Since its inception, Impact Florida has become known for connecting education leaders to support them in strengthening teaching in their respective districts by scaling best practices and driving for increased equity. Impact Florida cadres currently span 18 school districts that teach over half of the states’ public schools student population. In addition to convening four other cadres, Impact Florida also hosts an annual education summit for leaders and education organizations across the state.
Between March 2021 and November 2022, the districts in the Professional Learning Cadre will learn to identify and disrupt inequitable systems and policies related to instructional materials implementation and share best practices and learnings with other districts to facilitate change management and the sustainability of this work. Teams of key leaders from each district will be supported in how to better understand the complexity of student identities and more intentionally create equity and access for all students.
“By placing student success at the forefront, Impact Florida, Helios Education Foundation, and the school districts engaged in this work, will transform opportunity for thousands of Florida’s K-12 students,” said Paul J. Luna, President and CEO of Helios Education Foundation. “Closing achievement gaps and ensuring an equitable education system is core to ensuring all students, particularly first-generation, minority, and underrepresented students, are successful all along the education continuum.”
In addition to the Helios Education Foundation, the new cadre is supported by Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation and builds on learnings from Impact Florida’s High-Quality Instructional Materials cadre, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. TNTP, a national education nonprofit organization, will partner with Impact Florida in providing support to participating districts.
Impact Florida and the Professional Learning Cadre will continue to share information about their progress and their learnings throughout this school year both online and through presentations at education conferences, including at the third-annual Impact Florida Education Summit taking place October 2021.
ABOUT IMPACT FLORIDA
Impact Florida is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that believes excellent classroom instruction can move the needle for all students. It focuses on supporting education leaders and teachers with the knowledge and resources they need to ensure that great teaching and learning is consistently realized in all Florida schools. For more information, visit www.ImpactFL.org.
ABOUT HELIOS EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Helios Education Foundation is dedicated to creating opportunities for individuals in Arizona and Florida to succeed in postsecondary education. The Foundation’s work is driven by four fundamental beliefs in Community, Investment, Equity, and Partnership. Helios invests in programs and initiatives across the full education continuum – from early grade success through postsecondary education. In Arizona, where Latino students comprise a large proportion of the K-12 public school population, the Foundation is implementing its Arizona Latino Student Success initiative focused on preparing all students – especially students in high poverty, underserved Latino communities – for success. Through Helios’ Florida Regional Student Success Initiative, the Foundation is helping first-generation, minority, and underrepresented students from the state’s large population centers of South Florida, Central Florida, and Tampa Bay achieve a postsecondary education. Since 2006, the Foundation has invested more than $260 million in education programs and initiatives in both states. To learn more about Helios Education Foundation, visit www.helios.org.
ABOUT CHARLES & MARGERY BARANCIK FOUNDATION
The Charles and Margery Barancik family has long believed in the power of philanthropy to shape our world and enrich the lives of all people. It was the expression of this belief that led them in 2014 to establish Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation—a private, family foundation located in Sarasota, Florida. Barancik Foundation creates initiatives and awards grants in Sarasota and beyond in the areas of education, humanitarian causes, arts and culture, the environment, and medical research. Visit BarancikFoundation.org to learn more.
