Jounce Partners, a Philadelphia nonprofit backed by M. Night Shyamalan, helps teachers bring out the best in their students by introducing them to the latest research-based teaching methods and supporting their implementation, writes Natalie Pompilio for The Philadelphia Citizen.
The organization also provides school administrators with training in the most effective coaching practices. These efforts lead to greater investments in classroom excellence and a measurable improvement in student outcomes.
“We think it’s important that teachers understand the science behind learning,” said Paul Dean, Jounce Partners’ co-founder and executive director. “It’s not the teachers’ fault that instruction isn’t effective. Teachers, and the administrators who oversee them, are almost always doing their best, but working with very little effective science-based training on content and instruction.”
The nonprofit launched in 2011 as the Student Leadership Project but was renamed in 2013 to Jounce Partners. This relates to a physics term meaning “the acceleration of acceleration,” as their goal is to accelerate teacher learning, which, in turn, accelerates student learning.
Since then, the organization has gone from serving eleven schools, the majority of them in Philadelphia, to now serving around 100 schools in 10 states, which impacts over 35,000 students.
Read more about Jounce Partners and how it impacts teachers and students locally and nationwide in The Philadelphia Citizen.
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