Presented by Dr. Daryl Diamond, Director of Innovative Learning & Arts, Broward County Public Schools; and Dr. Julie Evans, CEO, Project Tomorrow
Hosted by Michael Freedman, Co-founder and CEO, Vocabulary.com

Sponsored by Vocabulary.com

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What’s the one thing most districts aren’t doing that can lead to significant literacy gains? Systematic vocabulary instruction. Learn how Broward County Public Schools, the sixth largest school district in the U.S., successfully implemented an adaptive platform for vocabulary instruction that resulted in widespread adoption by teachers and significant literacy gains on state ELA tests for students.

In this edWebinar, Broward’s Dr. Daryl Diamond discusses how the district’s innovative model for professional development, combined with a cohesive approach to edtech that’s aligned with instructional objectives, led to success. Lead researcher Dr. Julie Evans of Project Tomorrow reviews her study on the efficacy of adaptive vocabulary instruction in several BCPS schools. The results of her study showed that students in classes whose teachers consistently used this platform for vocabulary instruction had significantly higher achievement scores and experienced substantially more growth on state standardized ELA tests. Vocabulary.com’s Michael Freedman talks about the advantages of implementing curriculum-integrated vocabulary instruction and walk through how the platform provides differentiated instruction that’s truly adaptive.

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to teachers, librarians, and school and district leaders of elementary through high school grade levels.

About the Presenters

Dr. Daryl Diamond is the Director of Innovative Learning for Broward County Public Schools. She supervises the Instructional Technology, Library Media, Instructional and Digital Materials adoption process, Gifted and Talented students, and Global Studies programs. Her team focuses on using technology and digital tools as a means to change instructional practice and accomplishes this through ongoing professional learning and support of administrative and instructional staff. She works collaboratively with the District’s Office of Information and Technology to ensure single sign on functionalities and an easy “plug and play” technology ecosystem ensuring that technology is readily available and easy to use. Her current focus is on supporting and implementing innovations in teaching and learning to assist BCPS students, teachers, and administrators with transitioning to personalized learning environments.

Dr. Julie A. Evans is the CEO of Project Tomorrow and is the founder of the heralded Speak Up Research Project which annually collects and reports on the authentic views of 400,000 K-12 students, parents and educators on education issues each year. Dr. Evans serves as the chief researcher on the Speak Up Project as well as leading research efforts on the impact of digital content, tools and resources in both K-12 and higher education.

About the Host

A co-founder of Vocabulary.com, Michael Freedman brings marketing, sales, technology, and creative skills to the company. From 1996 to 1997, Michael served as Director of New Business Development at Razorfish. From 1991 to 1996, he worked as a writer, curriculum developer, and producer of CD-ROMs for The Princeton Review. Michael received a B.A. in fine arts and mathematics from New College of the University of South Florida.

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Vocabulary.com is a platform for systematic vocabulary improvement that adapts to the needs of individual students and integrates with any curriculum, allowing teachers to create activities based on any text. Used in over 40,000 schools, Vocabulary.com is proven by research to improve literacy skills.