New Jersey’s Branchburg Township School Expands Partnership with Discovery Education to Help Educators Accelerate the Creation of Digital Learning Environments

 –Implementation of New Professional Development Model to Help Educators Evolve Their Classroom Practice and Prepare Students for Success in the World of Tomorrow– 

Silver Spring, MD (December 18, 2018)– New Jersey’s Branchburg Township School District (BTSD) today announced an expansion of their long-standing partnership withDiscovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms. In the latest phase of this collaboration, BTSD is launching Discovery Education’s innovative Digital Leader Corps initiative within the school system.  BTSD educators participating in this professional learning model will learn and share with their colleagues new skills and strategies for accelerating the creation of dynamic digital learning environments that engage students and prepare them to succeed in the world of tomorrow.

The BTSD Strategic Plan has made eliminating achievement gaps, supporting self-centered learning, and integrating state-of-the-art technology key district goals through 2020. To help meet these goals, educators from the Stoney Brook Elementary School and Branchburg Central Middle School will participate in Digital Leader Corps.  Asustained, scalable, three-year professional learning initiative, Digital Leader Corps (DLC) builds a culture of continuous improvement in participating school systems and ultimately, creates lasting, systemic change.

DLC nurtures a network of teacher-leaders who are prepared to design and implement successful and innovative teaching strategies that can be shared with their peers. Featuring a unique combination of professional learning, pedagogy and tools, DLC helps participating educators learn to integrate educational technologies and digital media into classroom instruction. Included in the DLC is educator created, student-centered Learning Labs. In these labs, teachers bring to life new teaching strategies, and practice and adapt their skills in a classroom setting before sharing their successes broadly with their colleagues. The DLC program provides teachers with continuous customized, job-embedded consultation throughout the process with on-going modeling, coaching and feedback from Discovery Education’s professional learning experts.

“Branchburg Township School District’s expanded partnership with Discovery Education helps ensure our educators continue evolving their teaching practice and are well positioned to meet the ever-changing needs of our diverse student body,” said BTSD Superintendent Rebecca Gensel. “We are excited to start this new professional development initiative and we look forward to working closely with the Discovery Education team in the future.”

Since 2010, BTSD’s educators have been integrating Discovery Education’s award-winning digital content services into classroom instruction.  Currently, all BTSD’s educators are using Discovery Education Streaming Plus, a comprehensive digital service that supplements instruction across all curricular areas, to create engaging and interactive learning environments that inspire students beyond the classroom. BTSD’s middle school classrooms are also using the Social Studies Techbook to create real-world, personalized learning experiences.  An immersive digital curriculum, the Social Studies Techbook uses an inquiry-based instructional approach that emphasizes informational text literacy, analytical writing, and problem-solving skills, and includes primary source documents, digital investigations, a multimedia reference library, interactive maps, and more.

“Discovery Education is proud to be a part of Branchburg Township School District’s efforts to create modern, digital learning environments that challenge all students to reach their fullest potential,” said Discovery Education Partnership Manager Ricardo Garcia. “Superintendent Gensel and her talented team of administrators and educators have worked hard to create an environment for growth across the district, and we are excited to work with everyone at BTSD on this important new initiative.”

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.

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About Discovery Education
As the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12 classrooms worldwide, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content, professional learning, and the largest professional learning community of its kind. Serving 4.5 million educators and over 50 million students, Discovery Education’s services are available in approximately half of U.S. classrooms, 50 percent of all primary schools in the UK, and more than 50 countries around the globe. Inspired by the global media company Discovery Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to captivate students, empower teachers, and transform classrooms with customized solutions that increase academic achievement. Explore the future of education at DiscoveryEducation.com.