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Cohort Experience

Why should you apply?

  • Design and carry out a high-impact instructional initiative leveraging your existing programs to increase access to Applied Learning for more students
  • Collaborate with other highly activated school teams, enhancing Applied Learning to drive student outcomes
  • Receive support to implement instructional strategies that shift the cognitive demand to students
  • Feel reenergized and inspired by seeing innovative Applied Learning schools in Massachusetts

What will you do?

  • Learn from the school teams who designed and carried out these strategies at their schools and draft off their successes
  • See the initiative in action and design a plan for intentional roll-out with your leadership team
  • Analyze data to assess implementation and iterate on your approach
  • Collaborate with school leaders across the state working on a similar initiative

Who is eligible?

  • Teams from public schools serving grades 5-12 in Massachusetts that have active Democratic Knowledge Project, Investigating History, PBLWorks, OpenSciEd, Project Lead The Way, and/or ST Math 
  • Strong candidates will have a proven track record of implementing high-quality Applied Learning programs and a desire to see instructional practices from these programs expand to other grade levels/content areas

Your commitment:

  • A commitment to the goal of expanding Applied Learning for all students, including within core courses
  • Attendance at all RALIE events by a consistent 4-person team
  • Completion of all pre-work, data collection, reflections, and feedback forms
  • Execution of an 8-month rollout with the intent to scale
  • Desire to work collaboratively with a set of school teams committed to similar goals of enacting meaningful instructional change, stretching beyond the initial year
  • Willingness to share learnings, successes, and failures for the benefit of our community
  • Facilitation of visits to your school for the One8 team

Frequently Asked Questions

  • When are applications due?

    Applications are due September 24th, 2025.

  • How do I apply?

    To apply for RALIE, please visit this page to access the online application.

  • What makes an application competitive?

    Strong applicants will be school leadership teams, led by the Principal, who are highly committed to accelerating Applied Learning outcomes for all students. Applicants will speak to Applied Learning practices already happening in their schools and express a strong desire to transfer these tenets to other classrooms. In addition, strong candidates will express a steadfast belief that collaboration will be beneficial to the work and will be willing to collaborate with other school teams across the state.

  • Can we edit our application after it has been submitted?

    The portal allows you to log in, save changes, and make adjustments at any point in the process before clicking “Submit.”

  • Who should be on my team?

    Required members include the Principal, a Democratic Knowledge Project, Investigating History, OpenSciEd, PBLWorks, and/or Project Lead The Way champion, a teacher and one other team member(s) of your choosing who does not carry a teaching load.

  • What is Applied Learning?

    Applied Learning is a pedagogical approach in which teachers facilitate rigorous and relevant learning by presenting challenging real-world problems for students to solve through rigorous content knowledge and soft skills. Watch a video on Applied Learning here!

  • How is this work connected to Democratic Knowledge Project, Investigating History, OpenSciEd, PBLWorks, Project Lead The Way, and ST Math?

    Schools with demonstrated track records of implementing one or more high-quality Applied Learning programs will have priority enrollment status. Strong implementation of these programs allows students to experience strong Applied Learning opportunities, and can be used as an example to help drive broader change throughout the school. These replications draw off the robust structures used in these programs which will create a solid foundation for replication roll out.

  • What if I want more information?

    We strongly encourage interested teams to join us on September 10th at 9 a.m. for a virtual information session. Register here! Or, send specific questions to Sissela Tucker, at [email protected].