WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sept. 8, 2014 – The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE^®) is the recipient of a grant as part of a robust, multi-network effort to support scaling digital age implementation of the Common Core State Standards. With this grant, ISTE will build a Common Core Teacher Practice Network to publish 200 participant-generated examples, artifacts and resources to support teachers as they implement the standards. These resources will advance excellence in learning and teaching through the innovative and effective use of technology as well as leverage students’ increasingly available access to devices and technology for learning. This grant is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its efforts to help teachers across the country better connect about instructional practice. 

“Our Common Core Teacher Practice Network will provide educators with access to digital resources and best practices to support the integration of technology into the implementation of the new, more rigorous learning goals,” said Wendy Drexler, Ph.D., Chief Innovation Officer, ISTE. “Supported by this grant, ISTE will further empower educators by creating a robust network keenly focused on sharing best practices for combining technology with the Common Core.”

The ISTE Common Core Teacher Practice Network will focus on how the ISTE Standards can help facilitate a deeper understanding and effective application of the Common Core State Standards. The ISTE Standards help teachers rethink and redesign learning activities to facilitate students’ critical and creative thinking; effective communication; and collaboration with peers, experts, and others—principles shared by the Common Core State Standards. As a result, ISTE’s network will focus on implementing the Common Core and the ISTE Standards together and engage with its more than 100,000 education stakeholders to join the network. 

ISTE will collaborate with the National Center for Literacy Education (NCLE) to provide expertise on the Common Core for professional learning offerings, share resources with network members, develop a tool to guide alignment of instruction and learning activities to the standards, and publish examples on the NCLE and ISTE websites. 

This grant, the second round of Teacher Practice Network grants, will support 14 organizations working with over 110,000 teachers.  The first round of grants, in 2013, funded 21 organizations for projects supporting 350,000 teachers across the U.S. 

Other organizations that are part of Teacher Practice Networks include The Achievement Network, the Association for Career Technical Education, ASCD, the Center for Teaching Quality, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the National Center for Family Literacy, the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Council of Teachers of English; the National Math and Science Initiative, the National Writing Project, New Visions for Public Schools and others. 

About ISTE

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE^®) is the premier nonprofit organization serving educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. ISTE serves more than 100,000 education stakeholders throughout the world. 

ISTE’s innovative offerings include the ISTE Conference and Expo – one of the biggest, most comprehensive ed tech events – as well as the widely adopted ISTE Standards for learning, teaching and leading in the digital age and a robust suite of professional learning resources, including webinars, online courses, consulting services for schools and districts, books, and peer-reviewed journals and publications. For more information, visit www.iste.org. Connect with ISTE via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

For more information, media only:
Jodie Pozo-Olano, Chief Communications Officer, 804-986-6911, jpozoolano@iste.org
Lisa Wolfe, L. Wolfe Communications, 773-278-2800, lwolfe@lwolfe.com