REMAKE LEARNING DAYS ACROSS AMERICA 

OCT. 13 VIRTUAL KICKOFF SHOWCASES THE FUTURE OF LEARNING IN 16 REGIONS THROUGHOUT THE U.S. INCLUDING

San Diego County

San Diego County joins cities across the nation in offering insider previews of free, hands-on learning events coming in 2021 — and celebrating a new report by global innovation-spotter HundrED highlighting the groundbreaking, scalable work of 16 leading innovations in education.

San Diego, Oct. 6: America has seen remarkable disruption in education this year, and yet remarkable innovations in teaching and learning are happening right here in San Diego.

On October 13, educators from 16 regions across the U.S. including San Diego will launch a year-long campaign and unveil plans for the upcoming Remake Learning Days Across America, a celebration of learning innovation now in its fifth year. They will also share details about the soon to be released Learning Forerunners Across America report (available Oct. 13, see media contacts below for embargoed copy). This report details system-wide, impactful and scalable learning innovations from these 16 cities, regions and states. 

The internationally renowned organization HundrED, in partnership with Remake Learning and The Grable Foundation, has released this new report (announced last summer) which focuses on one system-level best practice from each region that can foster innovation at scale. 

Pactful, the San Diego Region’s innovation is groundbreaking in that it provides teens and their teachers an opportunity to engage in social good innovation in their communities to make a difference! Students create solutions to local and global problems aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The unveiling on October 13 will include information about each innovation and a preview of upcoming Remake Learning Days Across America events. Attendees will also see performances by Funky Fly Project, a live maker activity, and many special guests, including choreographer Maria Torres; 9th U.S. youth observer to the United Nations Dustin Liu; founder Bill Strickland and student Jason Garland of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Emily Dawn Calandrelli, host of “Emily’s Wonder Lab” on Netflix. Alina Mitchell will appear along with national partners PBS KIDS and Digital Promise, to share information about why family-engaged learning is critical. Remake Learning Days Across America Producer Dorie Taylor hopes that “parents, caregivers and educators across all communities will be inspired by the learning kids are doing alongside their caring adults and think about what they hope to see in their own communities.”

“There may not be another moment in our lifetimes when educators are thinking as boldly about what education and learning might be than right now. We should embrace these innovations as signals about what’s possible,” said Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation and co-chair of Remake Learning.  “And if we introduce these possibilities to parents, and we genuinely involve families as learning allies alongside our students and teachers, then we just might actually remake learning for years to come. That’s what is so electrifying about what’s happening right here in Pittsburgh and throughout the 16 Remake Learning Days regions.”

The work being highlighted on October 13 “reminds us that for all of our advances and technological marvels, it’s relationships that nurture children’s wonder,” Behr says. “And perhaps most importantly for the world’s learners, each innovation points the way toward large-scale change — toward a better future that’s within our collective grasp.”

Chris Petrie, head of research at HundrED, hopes that the innovations featured in the report “not only invigorate but galvanize action, perhaps even to adopt and adapt some innovations to your context. We envision that learning in this way will help further our mission at HundrED to help every child flourish in life, no matter what happens.”

Families and educators can register for the kickoff event, happening October 13 at 7-8 p.m. ET/4-5 p.m. PT, right here. And it will be available on YouTube after the event. 

Remake Learning Days Across America is generously funded by The Grable Foundation, Schmidt Futures, Carnegie Corporation of New York, William-Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

The Remake Learning Days Across America festival in San Diego County will happen April 22-May 23, 2021.

Regional Lead Organization: San Diego County Office of Education and The Jacobs Institute at University of San Diego

Remake Learning is a network in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia that ignites engaging, relevant, and equitable learning practices in support of young people navigating rapid social and technological change. An open group of interconnected, creative, and innovative people and organizations in the greater Pittsburgh region, Remake Learning is a collective effort to transform teaching and learning to better serve today’s young people. www.remakelearning.org

Remake Learning Days began in Pittsburgh as a project of Remake Learning, a grassroots initiative that activates entire communities to serve as a child’s “learning playground.” Remake Learning has earned international recognition for its work fostering collaboration that ignites engaging, relevant learning practices, while helping parents connect with their children’s learning and bringing these opportunities to a broader socioeconomic audience. Since its launch in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia in 2016, more than 100,000+ youth, parents and caregivers have participated in 1200+ Remake Learning Days events — the majority of which were free. Last year, Remake Learning Days Across America included nine regions, and this year it has grown to 16. www.remakelearningdays.org

 HundrED: A Finland-based nonprofit, HundrED discovers, researches, and shares inspiring innovations in K12 education. Their goal is to help improve education and foster a movement through encouraging impactful and scalable innovations to spread, mindful of context, across the world. HundrED Spotlights create unique opportunities for both educational professionals and independent organizers of the Spotlight to gain a thorough insight into the education innovations taking place in either a specific area of education, like literacy or sustainability, or within a certain geographic location, for example, India or London. For each Spotlight, we select the brightest education innovations, which then undergo a thorough study by our Research Team and an expert Advisory Board. HundrED Spotlights are organized with partner organizations, who help from their area of expertise. www.hundred.org 

The Grable Foundation believes in possibilities: that a child will experience something new that will change his or her life; that a teacher will have the resources to nurture students; that kids will play and learn and grow on their own time, in their own way, guided by a community of people and places keen to make these possibilities a reality. The Foundation awards support to organizations that improve the lives of children and youth across the Pittsburgh region from early childhood through the formative years, inside the classroom and out. www.grable.org

Media Contacts:

For more information or interviews, contact: Alina Mitchell @alinamitchell@sandiego.edu.