Presented by Medha Tare, Senior Research Scientist, Learner Variability Project, Digital Promise; Donna Hudson, Ed.D., Coordinator, Elementary Programs, Talladega County Schools, AL; and Jeff Fleishhacker, Head of Product, ReadWorks
Hosted by Sierra Noakes, Senior Research Project Manager, Digital Promise

Sponsored by Digital Promise

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How can products address the needs of learners with varied strengths and challenges? How do teachers and students use product features to support each learner’s unique needs? In this edWebinar, presenters describe a partnership among Digital Promise’s Learner Variability Project, the edtech product team at ReadWorks, and Talladega County Public Schools in Alabama. The goal of the partnership is to use learning sciences research to expand product features that support students’ learning.

Digital Promise worked alongside Talladega, a high-use district, to learn through observations, interviews, and quantitative analysis of student and teacher ReadWorks usage, how product features can support different student populations and needs. While research on student use of edtech product features is limited, this type of personalized learning shows promise. Viewers will learn from the perspectives of different partners, about evidence-based resources that address learner variability, the edtech-school district partnership process, and insight into conducting this research.

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to K-12 teachers, school and district leaders, product developers, and researchers.

About the Presenters

Medha Tare has more than ten years of experience conducting applied research in the learning sciences. She enjoys translating research to non-academic audiences so it can be used by practitioners in the classroom and by the learners themselves. She is currently the senior research scientist for the Learner Variability Project, leading the synthesis of research on learners’ strengths and challenges and evaluating the impact of the project’s work on learners across the country. She holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Donna Hudson’s education includes a Bachelor and Master of Science in education from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and educational specialist and Doctorate of Education from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She served as a classroom teacher, reading coach, assistant principal and principal before becoming Coordinator of Elementary Programs. Her approximate 30 years of service have all been in the Talladega County School System.

Jeff Fleishhacker is a founding member of the ReadWorks team and has worked for ReadWorks and its precursor organizations for over 17 years. In that span of time he has been involved in almost every facet of the organization but has chiefly worked to ensure a consummate online experience for teachers and students. Born a fourth-generation San Franciscan, he graduated from Columbia University in 1999 and lives with his wife and children in Brooklyn, NY.

About the Host

At Digital Promise, Sierra leads collaborative, research-based projects driven by authentic needs. By co-designing systemic improvements to the edtech marketplace with key stakeholders, such as education leaders and educators, Sierra hopes to infuse research into edtech product design and help educators make edtech decisions based on classroom needs. Prior to joining Digital Promise, Sierra was an educator and the curriculum coordinator for the Brooklyn Autism Center and received her M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Digital Promise was created with the mission to accelerate innovation in education to improve opportunities to learn.