Here's the Situation;

• Nevada ranks 50th in the nation for student opportunity (Ed Week, Quality Counts Report Card 2020)
• Less than 15% of Nevada’s students are prepared to succeed in college and career (ACT 2020) 
• COVID has only made matters worse as Nevada was far from prepared for distance education. Every day our young people fall further behind. Those who were disadvantaged before are losing the most learning (McKinsey, June, 2020). Parents are struggling to become teachers while teachers are struggling to keep students engaged without the technology and programs to do so.

Here's the Solution
The Education Innovation Collaborative (EIC) was created to solve these problems - through transforming the system. EIC has a plan to turn this crisis around and position Nevada as a leader in the new paradigm of student-powered learning. We believe that enabling all children in Nevada to become independent and collaborative learners, online at home and in enhanced schools and community places, is the path to success for education in Nevada - and beyond.  Our team of experts has been working with Nevada’s vanguard of innovators and leaders to design a roadmap to a future in which ALL students thrive to their full potential. 

What’s the key to this future? Empowering every learner, of every age, to design and own their learning as self-directed masters - as Selfpreneurs* of their best life. These passion-driven learners will be highly collaborative, creative, compassionate, and ready to make the world a better place to live.

To achieve these critical, challenging shifts, we envision Power Learning Labs in every community -- virtual and physical spaces and resources where students engage in REAL learning challenges that build their capacities to thrive in a rapidly changing, unpredictable world.

Power Learning Labs will enable the shift by:

• Integrating latest technologies, learning sciences, & goals to personalize learning
• Unleashing each individual’s strengths and passions to empower self-direction
• Collaborating to solve real-world challenges in communities and workplaces
• Having a caring coach team of peers, parents, experts, counselors, and mentors
• Developing leaders who inspire a culture of student-powered learning

Here’s How You Can Help
Sponsor students to join Design Clubs where they collaborate with community members to design and prototype a world class Power Learning Lab. Our budget is $200,000 for each site. 

• For $50, become a member of EIC and help students with design
• For $100, sponsor a student in a Design Club 
• For $1000+, support a Design Club team 

​During this holiday season, we count our blessings to have caring community members and generous donors like you. Thank you for your support!

Why has it been so many months since I last wrote an EIC blog post update? 

​Two main reasons: 

• Hunkering down to develop the plans, people, and finances to launch Learning Labs prototypes in two innovation communities and
• Seeking the RIGHT combination of partners and programs to have the greatest impact for the most economical investment.   

As you can imagine, COVID made mincemeat of plans that we had started in February to do LLab prototype in the Fall.  We had just begun discussions with amazing leaders in two communities in Nevada - led by Churchill Superintendent Summer Stevens - who are ready and willing to spearhead this work. However since the onslaught of COVID, teachers, students, and parents have struggled to keep up with the challenges of distance and hybrid learning - with little time to plan for an innovative pilot program at their schools. The existential stress of growing COVID infections along with election season dramas have only made it harder for an innovative start-up non-profit program such as ours to take root and attract funding - or ask the schools and districts to chip in.

With Nevada's education budget shrinking daily (Las Vegas is feeling like a ghost town), schools don't know how they will possibly cut MORE from their budgets when they have already been operating on razer thin budgets for years before COVID. Many students still do not have adequate computers or connections at home. Kids are falling behind more every day - especially children of color and economic disadvantage who don't have quality of support at home or quality of learning programs through their teachers.  

On the bright side, NV leadership is taking action to support innovative initiatives such as ours. Superintendent Ebert and her hardworking staff are doing a heroic job of supporting districts with educator professional development for remote and digital learning and teaching programs. Dr. Ebert launched a Blue Ribbon Commission for education innovation last week that I am honored to be invited to sit on and optimistic about the direction in which the group is moving - supported by forward-looking students and leaders from schools, districts, states, and non-profit organizations - and facilitated by KnowledgeWorks.

Further feeding my optimism is an emerging partnerships with UNLV College of Education - as new interim Dean Danica Hayes and team see how Learning Labs can be a host for learning sciences and advanced technologies (AR/VR/AI Interaction & Media Sciences Lab) for demonstrations, research, and development - putting Nevada on the map as a true leader in education innovation.

Yet another promising development last week that has inspired me to write this update, is a conversation with Kelly Young, President of Education Reimagined and then reading her compelling article today (published by Getting Smart) entitled The Time to Redesign is NOW!  You will see Education Reimagined's references throughout EIC's website (in process of overhaul) as ER's A Transformational Vision for Education paper was a key inspiration for our writing of the XQ SuperSchool grant way back in 2016 - which got us to semi-finals!    

Having spent 18 months of participatory research by a large group of diverse stakeholders years ago, Kelly and team's vision remains as relevant as ever - and more urgent!  As this table indicates, the logical education paradigm for a networked world is one that is learner-centered; highly personalized, competency-based deep learning experiences supported by a stable and supportive relationship network of adults and peers who engage in self-directed discovery together:    ​