Leading Educational Innovation and Improvement

What you will learn

• To envision new possibilities for the work of students and teachers in classrooms.
• To understand alternative logics and strategies for organizing the practice of educational innovation.
• To examine the application of the emerging field of improvement science to the practice of educational innovation.
• To explore innovation and improvement in large-scale educational reform initiatives in the US and around the world.
• To improve your own practice as an educator, innovator, and/or reformer.
• To develop and manage teams that use disciplined, evidence-based methods of educational innovation and improvement.
• To employ disciplined, evidence-based methods of educational innovation and improvement to manage collaborations among schools, districts, and systems.
• Teachers will have the knowledge, and may be able to pursue the credentials, to become active members of improvement teams and initiatives in their schools and districts.
• Leaders within the K-12 governance structure will have the knowledge, and may be able to pursue the credentials, to develop and manage inter-organizational teams able to effectively use leading methods of educational innovation and improvement.
• NOTE: Teachers and leaders should consult appropriate agencies to discuss possibilities for continuing education credit.
• Reformers beyond the K-12 governance structure will have the knowledge, and may be able to pursue the credentials, to use leading methods of educational innovation and improvement to secure funding for their work.
• Reformers can establish organizations and strategies supporting large-scale improvement; and manage their collaboration with school, districts, and systems.
• Career opportunities as grade-level team leader; content-area improvement specialist; instructional coach; school improvement team member; program developer.
• Additional career opportunities as external coach/implementation support; improvement specialist; project manager; grant writer; policy analyst; program officer.

Program Overview

Nominated for the 2020 edX Prize

Education systems around the world face the central challenge of finding innovative solutions and techniques for improving student performance. This challenge is shared by teachers, teacher-leaders, and principals who are responsible for improving opportunities to learn, with two goals: raising average levels of student performance and reducing achievement gaps between students.

Beyond schools, leaders in district offices, government agencies, professional associations, and other non-governmental enterprises also share the challenge of improving student performance at scale across entire schools, districts, and systems.

Developed in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching – and drawing on the expertise of leading researchers, innovators, and practitioners – the Leading Educational Innovation and Improvement MicroMasters program will empower learners to collaborate and strengthen educational opportunities and outcomes for millions of students, especially those currently underserved by their public schools.

This MicroMasters program will develop learners’ knowledge of educational innovation, research, and practice to enable them to improve the education and lives of children in their own schools and beyond.

More information on the MicroMasters program can be found at the University of Michigan website.