Pivot Learning Awarded $5M to Support Curriculum Implementation

This year, Pivot Learning and CORE*, in partnership with UnboundEd**, have embarked on an ambitious multi-year plan to support the implementation of standards-aligned math curricula in grades 6–8 in Guilford County Schools (GCS) and grades 7-8 in Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD). Through this grant, both districts will receive job-embedded intensive training and support over three years, including coordination with the curriculum publishers Open Up Resources and Curriculum Associates.

“We are very grateful to the Gates Foundation for funding us to work with MPUSD and GCS to improve the implementation of high-quality materials and aligned instruction,” said Allison Carter, Pivot’s Vice President of Curriculum Adoption and Implementation. “We are thrilled to partner to ensure that their middle school students receive the most rigorous learning experience and achieve great outcomes.”

These funds were granted as part of the Effective Implementation Cohort (EIC) initiative, the latest effort in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s support for the implementation of Coherent Instructional Systems (CIS) in the critical middle years.***

“We understand how important being on track in middle school math is for a student’s success. We are excited to work with an amazing array of partners, including two of the leading school districts in the country, Monterey Peninsula and Guilford County,” said Arun Ramanathan, CEO.

Guilford County Schools (GCS) is now embarking on their third year of implementation of Open Up Resources 6–8 Math, and we will be working in all of GCS’ 24 schools to reignite their efforts to ensure this curriculum is effective for all their teachers and students.

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) is implementing Ready Classroom Math by Curriculum Associates, including iReady, and we are currently working with the district through their first year of implementation. MPUSD is committed to engaging with community partners as part of this work. Please visit the MPUSD EIC grant webpage for more information.

Classroom Walkthroughs: A preview from our work with GCS and MPUSD

In both GCS and MPUSD, we are conducting classroom walkthroughs to help gather information about how the curriculum is being implemented, to support teachers in improving their practice, and to train school-based staff so that they are ready to sustain this improvement over time.

Over time, these walkthroughs help to measure curriculum integrity (are classroom educators using the curriculum correctly?) and quality (are classroom educators using the curriculum in service of their great instructional practice?).

Fill out the form to download a preview of the Walkthrough Tool in use in GCS and MPUSD classrooms!

For more information about the connection between high-quality instructional materials and equity, please see our Curriculum Adoption and Implementation Services.

*CORE is a subsidiary of Pivot Learning.

**Founded in April 2015, UnboundEd provides standards-aligned instructional resources and immersive equity-focused training for thousands of educators from across the nation through its week-long Standards Institute. 

***Pivot Learning and UnboundEd were early grantees of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Professional Learning Partnerships initiative, working in Stockton Unified School District in California on a collaborative, multi-year CIS implementation project that is closing out this year.