Morgridge Family Foundation Donates $125,000 to Help Engage Families

NEW YORK, October 9, 2018—PowerMyLearning, a national education nonprofit, is launching an exciting partnership with DonorsChoose.org whereby teachers can secure exclusive access to Family Playlists™, a groundbreaking research-based approach to engaging families in learning. Thanks to generous support from the Morgridge Family Foundation, teachers can participate in the PowerMyLearning Family Engagement Innovators Program, a new professional development opportunity focused on Family Playlists, for a fraction of the total cost.

Participating teachers will learn how to strengthen the “triangle” of learning relationships between students, families, and teachers using Family Playlists. As reported in The New York Times, Family Playlists are a mobile-friendly and multilingual innovation that put students in the teacher’s seat at home while driving mastery and social emotional learning skills.

The PowerMyLearning Family Engagement Innovators Program is designed for teachers in grades 3-8, with a particular focus on Math, ELA and Science teachers. In addition to Family Playlists access, participating teachers will receive:

• Three hands-on online professional development sessions led by PowerMyLearning family engagement experts. Teachers will receive an official Certificate of Completion upon completing all three sessions.
• A free year-long subscription to the award-winning PowerMyLearning Connect: School Edition platform for the participant AND four additional teachers at the school.

Thanks to the Morgridge Family Foundation’s 5x match, teachers need to raise just a fraction of the total cost to participate in the program. To begin their DonorsChoose.org project, teachers can visit this DonorsChoose.org help center article and follow the listed steps:

1. Log into org and create a new “Standard” project.
2. Shop through AKJ Education.
3. Search for “PowerMyLearning Family Engagement Innovators Program.”
4. The match offer will apply to the project as soon as it’s approved and live on the site. (Note: only projects exclusively requesting this item will be considered for the match offer.)

“I’m excited about the potential of this opportunity for teachers to start using Family Playlists,” said Carrie Morgridge, vice president of the Morgridge Family Foundation. “The impact of one or more teachers starting this initiative at their school is huge. Providing families with a new way to support their children’s learning and connecting loving family members with dedicated teachers will make all the difference needed to make sure students thrive. It’s bound to catch fire the next year throughout the entire school.”

Educators can create a project through DonorsChoose.org starting on October 9. The Morgridge Family Foundation will donate $125,000, helping to fund over 200 projects. For teachers who complete fundraising by October 31, the program will start in November 2018. For teachers who complete fundraising by December 31, the program will start in January 2019.

Since launching Family Playlists in 2017, PowerMyLearning has seen incredible results at schools and districts nationwide. One teacher who works at a district public school in New York City said, “This school year, the most valuable experience was the implementation of Family Playlists, which united myself, my kids, and their families by a magic bridge. For the first time, learning truly extended from school to my students’ homes.”