What’s All This Talk About “Reach Extension?”

Public Impact is a national education policy and management-consulting firm based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They have been working with Project L.I.F.T. in Charlotte, North Carolina where OLPC will be providing connected XO laptops and ongoing training and support to 2,500 teachers and students.

The efforts of Public Impact are aimed at extending the reach of excellent teachers using job redesign and technology. Public Impact believes schools can put in place models to ensure that all students have access to an excellent education. One of these models emphasizes the use of online digital instruction. In Project L.I.F.T. for example, school leadership teams are looking at spaces throughout the academic day where technology can be swapped for a period of teaching time. This will of course free up the classroom teacher’s time, allowing the educator to reach an even larger number of students on a daily basis.

XO laptops will be used throughout The Project L.I.F.T. Zone to support much of this work. Quality online digital instruction and the already available Sugar Learning Platform will serve as tools to ensure that every student receives the support he or she needs to be successful both in and out of the classroom. Both Sugar’s Journal and online program functions will store student work and data, allowing for continuous reflection, review and remediation.

For more information about the transformational work Public Impact is doing in our schools, visit opportunityculture.org.