Project LIfE / LIfE Grant

Leadership Innovation For Education

LIƒE

Project Outline:

The Leadership Innovation for Education (LIƒE) project combines access to evidenced based strategies with an expanded level of professional support to the Title lID schools in Districts 31 and 22 to align effective technology-based strategies to school improvement goals and thus improve student achievement in the core content areas. The Leadership Innovation for Educators (LIFE) project will test the very competencies that matter most for the 21st century. LIFE will motivate students who have grown up in a digital world to aspire toward academic excellence through the infusion of project-based learning, the development of e-portfolios to showcase and assess learning, and the acquisition of knowledge in an online learning environment. The project is also designed to meet the needs of today's students. For 21 century students of the United States to graduate and participate in the emerging global workforce they must be technologically literate (Panel on Educational Technology, 1997.)

The Goals of the LIFE Grant are

Leadership and System Change Through Technology
- System Change of Teaching and Learning through Technology.

The combination of leadership with emphasis on systemic change in teaching and learning has the potential to significantly impact student achievement. The project is designed to expand the use of effective, research-based practices to increase access to technology infused learning and to develop a stronger network of support for schools in their efforts to bridge the achievement gap.

To align teaching and learning with a 21st century vision, and to prepare students for higher education and the world of work, LIFE provides a blended model of professional development to assure that educators have the knowledge and skills to infuse technology into cross-curricular instruction that is authentic and comprehensive. Students and teachers will have ample opportunity to reflect on the learning process, and to acquire new knowledge in an online learning environment.

Project Participants:

The LIƒE Project represents a consortium of NYC School District 31 (lead applicant) and District 22 and several outside partners. The partnership will serve thirteen schools in D31 and nine schools in D22 all of which are identified by the NYS Office of Accountability as SINI or SRAP for either ELA or Math or both. In addition, the project includes forty-four non-public schools from these districts that were recruited to join this work through an extensive outreach effort. D31, a former District in Need of Improvement, is currently in good standing. District 31 serves the entire borough of Staten Island and District 22 serves several neighborhoods in South Brooklyn. Project LIƒE builds on previous Title lID projects and incorporates new strategies that together will build capacity to improve teaching and learning through a set of complementary strategies that include curriculum development through project based learning, development of e-portfolios to showcase and assess student work, data analysis to refine teaching strategies, and utilizing appropriate technologies for classroom instruction.

The Office of Educational Technology within the Division of Performance and Accountability developed this project in partnership with the School Support Organizations (SSOs) represented in Districts 31 and 22, and non-public school representatives. It is designed to include these entities in the process of system change through teaching and learning. As a result, the project will create a seamless network of support to engage these schools in a focused program of inquiry and improvement that analyzes data, adopts promising practices, and integrates appropriate technologies to engage students and improves academic achievement for all.