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Today, the National Writing Project and Educator Innovator join partners across the country in announcing Collective Shift, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to redesign social systems for the connected age. The initial focus of Collective Shift is LRNG, a movement to create a 21st-century ecosystem of learning that combines in-school, out-of-school, work-based, and online learning opportunities that are visible and accessible to all.
With an initial investment from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, LRNG will create new pathways to success for underserved young people to access learning opportunities supported by innovative educators. Through bringing together schools, cities, business leaders, and community resources like libraries and museums, LRNG will work to surround young people with experiences that connect their interests to real-world opportunities.
Using Connected Learning as the pedagogical basis for LRNG, the project shares with the Educator Innovator community the framework of connecting academics to interests, learners to inspiring peers and mentors, and educational goals to the higher-order skills the new economy rewards. Along with an expanded Cities of LRNG program, LRNG Youth will incorporate digital badges to make learning of all types more visible and valued in education and the workplace.
Launching in November as part of LRNG are the 2015 LRNG Innovators Challenge. Run by Educator Innovator, the 2015 challenge supports educators in reaching beyond the schoolhouse door to develop partnerships and programs that connect in-school and out-of-school learning and create opportunities for young people to follow their interests and do ambitious work. With support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the LRNG Innovators Challenge will invest in teams of teachers committed to exploring how learning experiences can move fluidly and coherently across the spheres of formal and informal learning.
If you and your colleagues are up to the challenge, sign up to receive info about the RFP available in early November.
To learn more about the LRNG movement, visit www.LRNG.org and follow #WeAreLRNG.