The organization: ASSISTments, a nonprofit educational organization, offers a highly effective math formative assessment and practice tool for math learning. Backed by research and originating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, this edtech solution has proven to enhance learning outcomes when used with fidelity. It harnesses the power of data to benefit teachers, students, tutors, and instructional leaders alike. Moreover, ASSISTments integrates with widely recognized educational standards, like the Common Core State Standards, and open-source curricula, such as EngageNY and Illustrative Math.
The Learning Agency has a longstanding partnership with ASSISTments, having supported strategy, communications, research, and programs within the organization.
The need: ASSISTments sought to launch a program that elevated the voice of fidelity teacher users in support of the product’s scale and reach. The program engaged teachers across the country in marketing, training, and community initiatives.
Our role: The Learning Agency partnered with ASSISTments to design the Teacher Ambassador program. We worked with ASSISTments to run two cycles of the program before it was carried forth by the organization. In order to ensure the the Ambassador program reached diverse sectors of the education spectrum, the program included three streams of engagement:
- School leadership: This stream focused on school- and community-level growth. Ambassadors organized events and workshops in their school community to build awareness and support other teachers’ use of the tool.
- National community: This stream focused on spotlighting the fidelity user experience and supporting teachers at a national level. Ambassadors participated in conferences and exhibitions with the ASSISTments team, moderated a virtual Facebook community, and provided feedback on new features.
- Digital growth: This stream focused on digital content development to support the organizations’ marketing efforts. Ambassadors developed blog posts about their experience and tips for the product, developed video tutorials, and leveraged their social media platforms in support of the tool.
We designed and administered the first cohorts of the twelve-month program. This included a recruitment and selection process for cohorts of up to ten teachers around the country. To recruit teachers with the highest potential of positive engagement in the program, we identified teachers with strong use of the tool and specific interests or experiences in the Ambassador program’s streams of engagement. We then supported Ambassadors in creating customized plans for their participation in the program, which allowed Ambassadors to develop their individual skills while also participating in a collaborative community. The Ambassador cohorts met quarterly for community meetings, as well as for trainings and workshops that supported key areas of interest for the Ambassadors’ professional development.
Key successes from ASSISTments Ambassadors included:
- Expanding ASSISTments to new communities around the country
- National publications, such as an op-ed in EdSurge: I Took a Break From the Classroom to Help Do Research. It Made Me a Stronger Teacher
- The development of guidance and resources, including for a gradeless classroom and teacher practices
- Participation in national conferences and webinars