São Paulo’s Education Media Center
Rossieli is São Paulo’s State Secretary of Education since 2019, leading the largest education system in Brazil and the Americas. Before, he was Minister of Education being 39 years old, Secretary of Basic Education and a National Board of Education member, leading some of the most transformative national education reforms in Brazil in the last decades, such as the National Learning Standards (“Brazil’s Common Core”) implementation and High School Reform. Prior to working at the federal government, Rossieli served as Amazonas’ State Secretary of Education. During his term, Amazonas was the state with the most significant improvements in Brazil - it started as the 23rd state with the best educational results on PISA in Brazil in 2012 and became the 12th state with the best results in 2015. He also served as Vice-President of the National Council of State Secretaries of Education, leading national debates on High School Reform.
The São Paulo’s Education Media Center offers classes to students and professional development sessions for teachers through an app, TV, and social media. It was created to offer learning opportunities for more than 7 million students and professional development for almost 300 thousand teachers at home despite school closures due to COVID-19. As most students in São Paulo have smartphones but not internet with the speed necessary to access educational resources, it allows access to the content through sponsored internet – that is, when students or teachers use the app, their internet is paid by the State Department. Given that even more students have access to TV, the live classes are also broadcast on two TV channels. After in-person activities return, it will continue to be used to offer complimentary classes and teacher training sessions. It elevates humanity by offering all students learning opportunities to dream and achieve their dreams.
More than 7 million students from all grades who study in São Paulo public schools suddenly had their in-person classes suspended as a preventive measure to avoid COVID-19 transmission. Even before school closures, we already faced an enormous challenge - only 5.9% percent of students finishing high school in state schools learned what was expected in the 12th grade.
Without in-person classes, the challenge of guaranteeing students’ learning became even bigger, especially considering that many students and teachers did not have access to the internet at home with sufficient speed for educational purposes. How could all students and teachers have access to high-quality learning opportunities from home in the diverse realities around a state? All these issues had to be solved in less than 40 days - the time between the day classes were suspended and the beginning of remote classes.
So, in order to reach all students in the State, we quickly negotiated to broadcast Media Center classes through TV, with a technology company the right to use an app to broadcast live classes and with telecom companies to offer sponsored internet when students and teachers watch the classes through the app, and also offer them through social media.
São Paulo’s Education Media Center (SPEMC) offers high-quality classes for students through technology-mediated classrooms and professional development for teachers. They are offered by some of the best teachers in the state and by specialists in different topics, fostering learning in an innovative way. During live classes, there is a high-level interaction - both through the chat that makes part of the apps or through the function of the app that allows people to speak through audio and video to make questions or comments and to answer to tests. Beyond live classes, students, families, and teachers can access the content at any time, giving the necessary flexibility for them to learn at any time. The SMPEC app has also a integration with Google Classroom, making it possible for teachers and students to use this platform with sponsored internet.
The SPEMC is especially important during school closures due to COVID-19. However, after in-person classes it will continue being very useful, offering remedial classes to support students with more learning difficulties, classes that allow students to deepen their knowledge and skills in topics of their interest, professional development sessions for teachers and live conversations that approximate the State Education Department to its professionals.
The São Paulo Media Center (SPEMC) serves more than 7 million students in the São Paulo State - about 3.4 million in state and 3.9 million in municipal schools. São Paulo’s public schools serve the students that need education most to access opportunities - around 20% of its students live in poverty or extreme poverty. So, when schools were closed due to the pandemic, we quickly started implementing changes to offer students learning opportunities. Our main concern was the students who have limited resources to access online classes. Because of that, SPEMC offers sponsored internet to allow most students to access classes through the app or the TV.
Given that the project was implemented during a very short period of time, it has to improve every day. Listening to students and professionals to find and solve problems is a daily activity. A team of more than 20 people is dedicated to solving problems such as difficulties with the SPEMC platform, and every day I personally conduct live conversations to listen to professionals, answering their questions, and solving the problems they present. Beyond that, we frequently organize focus groups with students, and professionals to understand their needs and address them.
- Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind
The project is mostly related to “Elevating opportunities for all people, especially those who are traditionally left behind” because São Paulo public schools serve the students with the lowest incomes in the state - beyond that, many of them live in poor living conditions, violent environments or remote areas where access to educational and working opportunities are scarce. By offering excellent classes to students around all the state, the Media Center offers opportunities to widen students’ perspectives, overcoming challenges so their futures are not limited by their life circumstances, making it possible for them to dream and achieve their dreams.
The idea came from similar projects I led.
While I was State Secretary of Amazonas, I led the improvement of the Amazonas’ Media Center, considered a national reference for allowing students located in remote rural areas to have access to high-quality education through in-person technology-mediated classes. In Amazonas, the biggest state in Brazil, it is common to find peoples in the Amazon rainforest very distant from where teachers live - the access to them can take hours. So, given the challenge of attracting high-quality teachers specialized in different subjects to offer classes in these regions, it broadcasts live classes from some of the best teachers in the state with the support of an in-person teacher that help students to develop activities tailored to their needs.
As Minister of Education, from my experience in Amazonas, I implemented the National Media Center, which selects some of the best teachers in Brazil to offer in-person technology-mediated classes connected to students’ interests.
Finally, in São Paulo, we had a different challenge after school closures in March. Now, it was not possible to allow in-person interactions between students and teachers in a school. So, we adapted the Media Center concept to offer learning opportunities at home.
I am passionate about promoting large-scale education policies because I was a public school student myself and know by experience the difference educational opportunities make to someone’s life.
I am particularly passionate about the Media Center because while a public school student, I faced many teacher strikes - I remember one strike in particular in 1991 when I missed school strongly, my mom got very stressed and I had many difficulties to learn after schools reopen. So, when schools were closed to prevent COVID-19, I just could not wait until they could reopen to offer millions of students, parents and teachers the support necessary to promote learning at home and created the Media Center
Beyond that, I can indirectly benefit students in other Brazilian states as São Paulo is a reference, as the most populous Brazilian state, being an example that it is possible to offer opportunities for millions of students. Soon after in-person classes were suspended, São Paulo rapidly implemented the Media Center, and we helped other states and municipalities to implement similar projects.
So, I am passionate about the São Paulo Media Center because it allows me to transform millions of students’ lives and inspire similar projects elsewhere.
The main skills that best position me to deliver results through the project, offering educational opportunities for millions of students, are my entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, courage to implement bold educational reforms and leadership skills to inspire people.
First, my entrepreneurial spirit to promote innovation in varied contexts in the public sector contributed for the effective implementation of the project. While I was State Secretary of Amazonas and Minister of Education, I delivered projects similar to the São Paulo’s Education Media Center. However, the São Paulo Center of Media is singular as the media centers in Amazonas and at the Ministry Education offered in-person classes through technology - that is, while a teacher offered classes to different schools, there were in-person teachers supporting their students at the same time, giving support to them according to their needs. During the pandemic, it is not possible to have in-person teachers mediating learning - so, we had to adapt the methodology, allowing teachers to interact with students remotely - through chats, by preparing scripts to guide students in watching classes and doing activities from them, and support them to promote their professional development.
Also, during my experience as State Secretary of Education of São Paulo and Amazonas, and as Minister of Education, I have already been able to promote and inspire significant education reforms and improve results for millions of students across Brazil. It was possible because I took risks to lead the implementation of challenging changes, having to overcome political resistance and operational difficulties.
After in-person classes were suspended, education professionals were worried about how they would be able to work and reach students so they are engaged and learn. We had around 40 days to provide high-quality classes for students in their homes, under a lot of pressure from students, parents, teachers, the media and other stakeholders, to offer good responses to many questions we did not know how to answer.
To overcome these challenges, I mobilized many different people - in the São Paulo State Department, NGO and companies - to find solutions to the challenges we faced. During the process, we faced many challenges - the main one was that many students did not have access to internet with the necessary speed, and as a result of that many people were contrary to offering online classes as some would not have access them. While trying to overcome it, we had difficulties such as negotiations to offer sponsored internet that did not close, or problems with the Media Center center to allow so many people users at the same time.
However, we finally were able to in approximately one month offer sponsored internet so students could access high-quality classes through the app.
Historically, São Paulo state schools’ teachers have been highly skeptical about the secretaries of education. Most of them felt their voices were not heard, and that the São Paulo State Department was there only to pressure them and not reward them for their work. Especially after school closures due to COVID-19, teachers became even more anxious. So, I decided to daily hold daily live conversations through the Media Center app, for one to two hours every day, to listen to teachers’ concerns, complaints, suggestions, and to present concrete solutions to their problems.
Instead of hiding the problems, during these conversations I answer difficult questions, admit that I do not have some answers, and commit to solve problems that are identified.
Because of that, as well as because of the work our team did to the best of our capacity to really support teachers and schools, over time the reactions of most teachers have changed. While before complaints over what the Education Department was doing were most common, later compliments to the work we are doing are much more common, and the debate much more constructive to find common solutions so that we work together to improve students’ engagement and learning.
- Other, including part of a larger organization (please explain below)
The São Paulo Education Media Center is a government program, run by the São Paulo State Department of Education. Since its beginning, however, partnerships with nonprofits and companies has been essential to launch the Media Center and promote continuous improvement so we can reach more students, teachers and parents, as well as to promote innovation provide more meaningful educational opportunities to them. Therefore, we are looking for international partnerships because we are open to them so we can, together, offer opportunities to our students so they can dream and achieve their dreams.
What makes the São Paulo’s Education Media Center innovative is that it gives the opportunity to more than 7 million students to have access to high-quality education at home during school closures, even if students or teachers do not have internet. One of its main features that stands it out from other technological solutions is the sponsored internet, that allows students and teachers to access the app freely.
It was inspired by the Amazonas’ Media Center and the National Media Center, that offered technology-mediated classrooms, but has a crucial difference that due to the pandemic it is not possible to allow for in-person interactions between teacher and students. However, a crucial ingredient that explains the success of other media centers is the interaction between teachers and students. So, in order to make the interaction possible, adapted to what is possible during school closures, the São Paulo’s Media Center has features that allow teachers to interact with the students of his class through video and a chat, making it possible for them to explain concepts that were not well explained by the teacher who offers live classes, offer assignments for their students, share additional materials and highlight important parts of the classes to learn.
Having a channel with easy access also made it possible for São Paulo’s education professionals to have an unprecedented proximity to the Secretary of Education, creating an environment of trust and support that is helping the effectiveness of remote learning, as recognized by the OECD.
A wide range of evidence indicates that long periods away from school have a negative impact on students' learning, especially those who come from low-income families. Beyond that, evidence also indicates that when crises such as these caused by pandemics happen, the likelihood that students drop up rate rise. So, after schools were closed, offering education through technology became essential, to offer classes that are attractive so students are motivated to continue studying and improve learning.
By offering excellent classes to students and training sessions for teachers, we expect to improve educational outcomes and, as a result, prepare São Paulo’s students both for the exercise of citizenship and for the job market, so they have more productive and fulfilling lives.
To offer high-quality classes to students and professional development for teachers, the activities necessary are:
select some of the best teachers to offer classes through São Paulo’s Education Media Center;
offer the technological infrastructure needed to broadcast live classes;
offer support and incentives for students, their families, and professionals to use the TV or the app effectively;
offer sponsored internet to allow students and teachers to access the app without having to use their own internet;
organize recorded classes by grade and discipline to help students and teachers watch classes or professional development sessions at any time.
As a result of these activities, the main outputs are:
classes directed to students broadcast;
professional development sessions for teachers broadcast.
If students and teachers routinely use the Media Center, we expect as short-term outcomes:
improve students’ learning;
reduce dropout rates;
increase students’ eagerness to learn;
promote teachers’ professional development.
As a result of improving educational outcomes described above, we expect as long-term outcomes:
increase the likelihood that state schools’ students reach and complete college;
are more likely to find a job, be more productive and have a higher salary;
become more active and tolerant citizens, that dialogue and collaborate with others to solve common problems.
Then, the Media Center offers students an educational experience connected to their dreams and to prepare them to have fulfilling and productive lives in the 21st century.
- Women & Girls
- Infants
- Children & Adolescents
- Rural
- Peri-Urban
- Urban
- Poor
- Low-Income
- Middle-Income
- Minorities & Previously Excluded Populations
- Persons with Disabilities
- 1. No Poverty
- 3. Good Health and Well-Being
- 4. Quality Education
- 5. Gender Equality
- 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- 10. Reduced Inequalities
- 16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
- 17. Partnerships for the Goals
- Brazil
- Angola
- Brazil
- Guinea-Bissau
- Mozambique
- Portugal
- São Tomé and Principe
- Cabo Verde
- Timor-Leste
The Media Center can reach more than 7.3 million students and almost 300 thousand teachers. Although available, not all students and teachers use it frequently, and we expect that in the future more students use it, getting closer to our potential of reaching all students and teachers in the state. We are not able to know exactly how many students we reach because there are no precise data about students who watch classes on TV, but considering just the app we already have more than two million users. To reach more people, we will make it easier for students and professionals how to use the Media Center, reducing the time it takes for them to solve problems of access when they face them; making content increasingly interesting and useful, to attract and retain students, offer better technological infrastructure and equipment to watch to the classes, and establish partnerships with more municipalities in São Paulo.
In five years, we also expect to reach more students from from other states and countries, increasing educational opportunities for tens of millions of students. We intend to share our content and experience of offering high-quality classes mediated through technology with other states (having the potential to reach more than 30 million students in other Brazilian states) and Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in Africa (having the potential to reach more than 25 million students) so many more students or teachers in other parts of Brazil and the world also can have access to educational opportunities.
Students in São Paulo, other Brazilian states and in countries all around the world were heavily affected due to school closures.
Because of that, my goal within the next year is to offer students as much support as possible so they continue their studies, recover learning and feel emotionally well. The Media Center will be essential for that because it will continue to offer high-quality while schools gradually reopen, so students have classes in the days of the week they will be at home (as in the first phases of reopening they will go to school just some days of the week); and offer remediation classes and opportunities to deepen their knowledge in topics of their interest that complement in-person classes after schools completely return. That way, it is going to be essential to promote learning, and an education that is more engaging, connected to students’ dreams and the needs of the 21st century.
My goal for the next year is to turn São Paulo into the state with the best results in basic education in Brazil, turning it into an example of equality of opportunities. This has been my goal since I became State Secretary, in 2019, but it became even more challenging after the pandemic.
Beyond directly impacting the lives of the more than 7 million students in the state - I dream making São Paulo a reference for other states in Brazil and countries around the world, helping them to promote significant large-scale educational improvements.
One of the main barriers to accomplishing our goals in the next year is offering access to São Paulo’s Education Media Center (SPEMC) to all students. Despite most students already have smartphones or other devices that allow them to access SPEMC, there is a portion of students - those that come from the families with the lowest incomes - that still do not have the necessary devices to use it, or that have to share them with their parents or siblings, that have to use them during the day to work or study. In these cases, it would be important to offer those students devices to give them the opportunity to use SPEMC. However, there are financial constraints - given that revenue was significantly reduced due to COVID-19 - and legal constraints - public procurement rules make it difficult for the government to buy high-quality devices.
In the next five years, one critical challenge to overcome is to offer more personalized learning opportunities for students at different levels. After school closures, the achievement gaps tend to increase even more, and it will be necessary to make students engaged with their studies. Our students are in various different learning levels, and to make learning more effective and attractive to them, it is necessary to offer classes tailored to their needs. However, there is a huge technical challenge to identify students’ learning levels and offer personalized learning opportunities, associated to the financial challenge of hiring people with the necessary expertise to personalize learning.
To overcome the barrier of acquiring electronic devices for students and teachers that do not have access to equipment of the necessary quality for pedagogical use, we are looking for partnerships with organizations of the private or nonprofit sectors to fund the acquisition and distribution of the devices for those who need it most. To make sure the devices are really focused on the teachers and students that need it most, the State Department will update its database on the quality of the devices students and teachers have and direct it to the ones that face more challenges.
To overcome the barrier of offering personalized learning opportunities for students in different learning levels, we plan to mobilize the State Department’s team, together with specialists and organizations with different kinds of expertise - from in-depth pedagogical knowledge about how students learn more effectively, to technology experts that can design features that make it possible to organize information about students’ learning and from that offer personalized classes to help students in different learning levels.
In order to overcome both these short-term and medium-term challenges, The Elevate Prize program would be very helpful to offer funding to allow us to offer more teaching and learning opportunities for students and teachers focused on who need it most, and to bring together experts from around the world that can help us overcome the technical challenges of offering personalized learning opportunities.
We have partnerships with different organizations:
TV Cultura: we partnered with the TV company to broadcast high-quality classes exclusively on two television channels.
IP.TV: donated the app that is used to offer live and interactive classes and professional development sessions.
Amazon Web Service: we negotiated a free service for 6 months in order to have a robust technology infrastructure.
Amazonas’ Media Center: as Amazonas has been producing high-quality educational content for years, we established a partnership to use video classes and other pedagogical content.
Departments of Education of different municipalities or states: we offer access to the Media Center for students of municipalities in São Paulo. With some municipalities, the partnerships also include allowing some of their best teachers to offer classes in part of their time through the Media Center. And with some states and municipalities, the partnerships include technical cooperation to help them develop similar projects.
Non-profit organizations such as Parceiros da Educação, Center of Innovation for Brazilian Education (CIEB) and Lemann Foundation: offered both technical support to design and implement the Media Center, and the financial support to fund products or services necessary for the project.
Organizations that offer educational platforms that complement the classes and professional development sessions offered through the Media Center.
Telecom companies: We reached a historic deal to sponsor the internet in the SPMEC app. It costs US$ 0.0014 per MB, a value more than 6 times lower compared to similar contracts.
São Paulo’s Education Media Center (SPEMC) offers high-quality learning opportunities for students and teachers so that our students can dream and achieve their dreams, and our professionals have the support to continuously improve their practices aiming to enhance students’ learning. These learning opportunities are offered through varied channels - including an app that allows interaction between students and teachers; open TV channels; Youtube; and social media.
Its main source of revenue is São Paulo’s state government budget, as a governmental program. However, resources from companies or nonprofits are essential as well, especially to offer the technological platforms to produce and broadcast the classes through TV or online, and provide investments for improvements in quality of the classes we offer.
It is essential in the short term to offer educational opportunities while schools are closed, but after they reopen it will continue to be essential in providing classes that complement in-person classes to make it possible to reduce the damage of the pandemic to students’ socioemotional and cognitive development; and elective courses that makes it possible for students to have access to a more diversified curriculum, especially in regions in the state where it is difficult to find teachers that offer excellent classes about specific topics such as entrepreneurship and financial education. These classes are important not only to increase students’ learning but also to increase their interest in schools, as through the SPEMC they will be able to deepen their knowledge and skills in topics of their interest.
The Media Center financial sustainability is possible through a combination of the São Paulo State Government’s budget and resources offered by partners. Through the budget, the São Paulo State Department can fund the operational costs of running the Media Center, including teachers’ salaries and the basic infrastructure that allow us to broadcast the classes.
However, due to financial constraints, that tend to worsen because of the economic crisis, as well to the legal complexity of acquiring highly specialized technological and technical services, the support of partners through grants or services donation is essential to allow us to make the necessary to increase the Media Center’s reach and quality of the classes offered.
In the long term, the tendency is that the state budget cover a bigger portion of our costs, increasing the program’s financial independence. However, especially in the first years, the support offered by partners are going to be essential for the Media Center to grow, reaching more students and teachers, and improve. Partnerships help to promote continual innovation, making the Media Center increasingly effective to promote students’ learning and teachers’ professional development. In addition to using the funding directly received by the prize to leverage the project, if we win we intend to look for new partners to raise more funds given the increase of our international visibility, and to attract people and organizations with different expertises so we can offer classes that are increasingly engaging for students and teachers and that are more effective to promote learning.
Soon after school closures were announced, the São Paulo State Education Department opened a public call to receive grants to support students’ learning from different technology companies, providing support or complementing the Media Center. The monetary values are estimates informed by the companies, considering the commercial prices of services.
INNYX tecnologia (May 2020): platform with more than videos directed to high school students. USD 13.3 million
Descomplica (April 2020): platform with classes and activities for students to prepare to the entrance exam ENEM (equivalent to the SAT in Brazil). USD 10.1 million
Escola Mais Educação (May 2020): platform that offers live classes and exercises. USD 10.0 million
Stoodi (April 2020): platform with exercises and study plans for students to help them prepare to entrance exams. USD 8.0 million
MWC Editora (May 2020): offered free access to digital books. USD 5.5 million
SEB Educacional (May 2020): recorded classes to prepare students for entrance exams. USD 3.7 million.
Dragonlearn (April 2020): app to access adaptive Math and English exercises. USD 3.3 million.
Editora Magia de Ler (May 2020): access to a newspaper directed to students. USD 2.5 million.
Matific (April 2020): platform with math activities. USD 2.3 million.
IP TV: temporary licensing for live content transmitted through the Media Center app. USD 0.7 million.
AWS Amazon: cloud service to support SPEMC broadcasting infrastructure. USD 0.6 million.
Blue Duck (Mangahigh): games directed to promoting students’ learning in math. USD 0.2 million.
We intend to implement a project with the financial (through a loan) and technical support of the World Bank focused on the 700.000 most vulnerable students in the São Paulo State that includes a conditional cash transfer program to incentivize students to continue their studies and financial support to acquire devices for teachers that support them. The total project with the World Bank is estimated in USD 250 million.
First, the cash transfer is going to be essential because many of our students come from families who have been suffering financially due to the economic crisis that resulted from the pandemic. Therefore, so they do not have to stop studying to work in order to help their families, they will have a financial incentive by receiving a scholarship if they attend classes at school and additionally from the Media Center, complete activities and participate in assessment tests. The aim is to reduce school dropout rates and improve learning.
Second, we intend to offer additional support so students can have access to more learning time. The tablet is going to be use to extend the period students can study - for example, students could have 5 hours and 15 minutes of in-person classes everyday, and 2 to 3 hours of classes from the Media Center with the support of teachers that work as tutors.
Finally, if we win the MIT Solve Prize, we intend to find more international partners to leverage the project, making it possible to reach more students.
The main expenses related to the Media Center for 2020 and their estimated costs are:
Infrastructure and content production to support the Media Center: it includes 4 studios, the equipment and operational costs necessary to broadcast the live classes, production classes, lesson plan analysis, obtaining the licenses to use content with copyright, and the Media Center website. Estimated cost: USD 5.5 million
Sponsored internet: it includes contracts with four telecom companies to offer sponsored internet that allow students and teachers to use the Media Center app freely. Estimated cost: USD 1.0 million
TV Cultura: contract with the television company that allows us to broadcast our content every day in two different channels. Estimated cost: USD 0.9 million
Cloud storage and streaming capacity: given that classes are streamed, we need to have a wide data storage capacity to store the classes offered so that students and teachers can watch them at any time. Estimated cost: USD 0.8 million
Improvements and maintenance of the app: the Media Center has two different apps - one directed to preschool and elementary school students and/or their parents; and other to middle school and high school students. We have been improving the app so they can be more useful, and operate better. Estimated cost: USD 0.3 million.
Teachers’ salaries: we have 41 excellent teachers that were selected to offer classes through the Media Center. They have started in different months of the year, starting in April. Estimated cost: USD 0.3 million.
I am applying for the Elevate Prize in order to expand São Paulo’s Media Center reach and improve the effectiveness of the interactive classes, offering higher quality learning opportunities for more students and professional development for teachers, including students from São Paulo, other states and Portuguese-speaking countries around the world.
First, The Elevate Prize can help to overcome financial and legal barriers by offering funding to electronic devices that allow students from the most vulnerable schools to access São Paulo’s Media Center. Beyond the funds directly offered through the prize, the visibility gained by the project will make it possible to raise more funds to allow us to reach more students and teachers and to help other states and countries to develop similar projects to overcome the challenges caused by COVID-19.
Second, the Prize will make it possible to bring together some of the best professionals around the world that collectively can find solutions with us to offer more personalized learning opportunities for students and teachers in different learning levels. Given the diversity of students and teachers in the state, it is critical to precisely identify their needs and from that offer support tailored to each one. However, this is a very complex challenge, and certainly by receiving the Elevate Prize will help us to overcome this challenge.
In summary, receiving the Elevate Prize will make it possible for us to reach millions more students and teachers, as well as to offer increasingly meaningful and effective learning opportunities for them.
- Funding and revenue model
- Talent recruitment
- Mentorship and/or coaching
- Board members or advisors
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Marketing, media, and exposure
The areas of funding, marketing, media and exposure are going to be especially helpful to expand our reach, offering more teachers and students learning opportunities by providing more technological devices for students and teachers and by increasing the Media Center and its visibility.
At the same time, the areas of talent recruitment, mentorship and having advisors that help us to design better solutions, implement them effectively and evaluate to promote continual improvement are going to be especially helpful, bringing together people with diverse backgrounds and points of view to improve the classes we offer through the Media Center. The challenge of monitoring the use of the Media Center is especially important given the scale of our reach, including millions of students and teachers around the state. Therefore, it is essential to allow us to effectively find problems and the solutions to address them.
Some of the organizations we would like to partner with are:
MIT Media Lab: it already has The Lemann Creative Learning Program, and could help us to develop new technologies, materials, and innovative initiatives to promote professional development that foster learning practices that are more hands-on, develop students’ creativity and are centered on students' interests.
J-Pal. Because of its expertise with public policy, as well with experiences in different countries about teaching at the right level and project monitoring and evaluation, partnering with them could be very helpful to improve the Media Center implementation.
World Bank: to finance the acquisition of devices for students and teachers and offer technical support.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): to deepen our work at the Media Center to foster the development of socioemotional skills, that are essential for students’ development in the 21st century, as well improve our project based on the most advanced evidence about education.
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University: to offer evidence-based advice on how we can best support students’ learning based on cutting-edge research on how to address student learning loss.
Lego Foundation: to help develop classes that are more interesting for students and promote their creativity.
We are also open to finding others partners that can help us to make the Media Center accessible to more students or improve the quality of the classes offered, so we can support students at different learning levels and offer them more meaningful educational experiences.
São Paulo State Secretary of Education