GRAND PRIZE WINNER
It was a museum. And now it’s a school.
Sustainable – DCS is now a school that will expand locally and distribute its programs and its new customized education app nationally.
Transformational – A project based, experiential learning model has changed how students are educated.
Outstanding – Excellence in delivery of services, most new, at a time of crisis, was a hallmark of this organization.
Permissionless – This independent non-profit neither sought nor needed permission to expand to help kids.
The team at this respected community institution that provided educational activities for students voted to stay open to fill a huge gap that existed in this Ozark community during Covid. Discovery went to work in 48 hours transitioning their 60,000 square foot building into a massive community response center taking care of children of essential workers, delivering over 200,000 hours of child care, 50,000 free meals and on top of that, opened a school. With pods of just ten students, the Discovery school offers a project-based, experiential and hands-on learning environment that parents believe is helping their children to love learning again.
Once these services were set up, the team at Discovery realized the need and demand for transformational and outstanding education. Its leaders didn’t ask for permission or regulatory changes to expand into the former Everest College to set up educational programming through its community. While the traditional system floundered, the community embraced Discovery’s new course.
With the grand prize, Discovery will expand the school which currently operates privately, and become self-sustaining over time. They plan to develop a new app to help parents with students in any school in the state to customize learning. And this science center will take its work to 27 rural counties, 30 states and 3 countries, to help guide thousands more organizations to create these kinds of innovative learning programs, too.
OUR FINALISTS
Sustainable
Louisiana Key Academy is providing a SUSTAINABLE education, critical to ensuring the longevity and spread of great education for students. LKA gives parents an exceptional choice of school to serve the unique needs of their dyslexic students. Carving a sustainable pathway for growth, the charter school will expand nationwide and seeks to share its research-based, best practices nationwide to serve 1000s more.
Transformational
Dallas Education Foundation is TRANSFORMATIONAL in its work for students. DEF fought the impact of Covid with 21st century technology creating a “metaverse” of innovations and opportunities for the district’s 145,000 students. From building a new virtual school house, to immersive game-based learning technology, expect to see this group accelerate student achievement for years to come.
Outstanding
CARE Elementary School is delivering an OUTSTANDING education for Miami’s underserved students. CARE student achievement has risen and soared above comparable populations. True to form, when the pandemic struck, this no-cost private school did not skip a beat. It reopened quickly with state of the art technology powering dozens of learning pods, and outstanding education prevailed. CARE will begin to expand to pre-school with its STOP award.
Permissionless
Rock by Rock created PERMISSIONLESS education resources for families. While personalization is ubiquitous in almost every other facet of life, antiquated education prevails for most. By creating engaging project kits at warp speed, this small but powerful ed tech company partnered many families who lacked access to good education during Covid. Just as Uber and Netflix disrupted their industries, Rock by Rock is disrupting education.
Sustainable
Louisiana Key Academy is providing a SUSTAINABLE education, critical to ensuring the longevity and spread of great education for students. LKA gives parents an exceptional choice of school to serve the unique needs of their dyslexic students. Carving a sustainable pathway for growth, the charter school will expand nationwide and seeks to share its research-based, best practices nationwide to serve 1000s more.
Transformational
Dallas Education Foundation is TRANSFORMATIONAL in its work for students. DEF fought the impact of Covid with 21st century technology creating a “metaverse” of innovations and opportunities for the district’s 145,000 students. From building a new virtual school house, to immersive game-based learning technology, expect to see this group accelerate student achievement for years to come.
Outstanding
CARE Elementary School is delivering an OUTSTANDING education for Miami’s underserved students. CARE student achievement has risen and soared above comparable populations. True to form, when the pandemic struck, this no-cost private school did not skip a beat. It reopened quickly with state of the art technology powering dozens of learning pods, and outstanding education prevailed. CARE will begin to expand to pre-school with its STOP award.
Permissionless
Rock by Rock created PERMISSIONLESS education resources for families. While personalization is ubiquitous in almost every other facet of life, antiquated education prevails for most. By creating engaging project kits at warp speed, this small but powerful ed tech company partnered many families who lacked access to good education during Covid. Just as Uber and Netflix disrupted their industries, Rock by Rock is disrupting education.
Click each of our finalists to learn more about their organization.
Rock
by
Rock
CARE Elementary School
Dallas
Education
Foundation
Discovery Center
of
Springfield
Louisiana
Key
Academy
Rock
by
Rock
Discovery Center
of
Springfield
CARE Elementary School
Dallas
Education
Foundation
Discovery Center
of
Springfield
Louisiana
Key
Academy
Rock
by
Rock
"There are so many heroes who responded to the Covid crisis in the education sector. You were focused on kids and families. You did what you had to do and we are so grateful for that. We created this award to honor your work and we knew if we built it you would come."
- Janine Yass, STOP Award benefactor
This award, created to honor and advance the work of education providers that continued to perform during Covid, salutes all whose work shines above the rest. Learn more about their journey, and the others here.
Presented in Partnership with:
Presented in Partnership with: