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Harvard University Convenes a Group of School District Leaders in Seaside to Focus on Deeper Learning for Students

For Immediate Release

January 21, 2020

 

Seaside, CA - Twelve school districts across the country and Canada will convene in the new state-of-the-art Digital Library and Makerspace at Seaside High School January 22 - 24 as part of a unique group of leaders called the “Deeper Learning Dozen” through the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 


The Deeper Learning Dozen supports superintendents, through a community of practice, to transform their school districts to support equitable access to deeper learning experiences and outcomes for all students and adults, through changes in leadership, school and district systems, adult learning, and pedagogy.


“It is an incredible honor to be chosen to be part of the Deeper Learning Dozen. Our school systems were designed for a different era and this convenening allows districts to learn from one another in pursuit of transforming our systems to better meet the challenges facing our students and society,” said PK Diffenbaugh, Superintendent, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.


“All over the world, school is changing. Faced with all the possibilities, inequities, anxieties, and complexities of contemporary life, educators and students alike are balking at an inherited approach to schooling that does little to prepare students for those challenges. The Deeper Learning Dozen is our attempt to address this need. It is both an action project and an attempt to learn and share what we are learning with the field,” said John Watkins, Amelia Peterson and Jal Mehta, in the White Paper Transforming School Districts to Support Deeper Learning for ALL: A Hypothesis.


The 12 district partners, including the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, are medium sized districts with significant socio-economic and ethnic diversity, and a commitment to equity in their deeper learning work. These 12 districts have committed to changes at the classroom, school, and system level to deepen and spread powerful learning for all students. The districts include:


  • Abbotsford School District, Canada
  • Burlington School District, Vermont
  • Cowichan Valley School District, Canada
  • Jeffco Public Schools, Colorado 
  • Kootenay Lake School District, Canada 
  • Madison Metropolitan School District, Wisconsin 
  • Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, California 
  • Revere Public Schools, Massachusetts 
  • Salem Public Schools, Massachusetts 
  • Vancouver School Board, Canada 
  • Waltham Public Schools, Massachusetts 
  • West Contra Costa Unified School District, California 

The media is invited to attend and/or observe the three-day convening. Contact Marci McFadden at 831.706.6971 for schedule and scheduling opportunities.


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