9th Annual Breakthroughs in Education Gathers Community to Discuss Out-of-School Time Learning

On December 1, 2016, Breakthroughs in Education celebrated those that have worked to improve urban education and promote community awareness of educational equity. The results of Breakthrough’s newly-released summer learning report validated the research of keynote speaker, Paul Reville, founding director of Harvard’s Education Redesign Lab and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

More than 150 of Greater Boston’s educators, elected and school officials, and Breakthrough supporters gathered at Google for the 9th annual Breakthroughs in Education event, where they:

1. Engaged in a lively conversation on the important role of
out-of-school time learning in educational equity.
Our keynote speaker, Paul Reville, shared the ways in which the current educational system is inaccessible for many students, as well as his insights on scaling strategies and approaches for a “new engine” of education to better serve all students.
2. Learned about the impact of Breakthrough’s Summer
Program on combatting summer learning loss.
On December 1, Breakthrough released its 2016 report on summer learning results. On average, students made as much as six months academic gains during Breakthrough’s six-week Summer Program. You can read the 2016 Summer Program Report on Student Outcomes here.
3. Celebrated excellence in teaching with the presentation of
the Elizabeth D. Hodder award.
Breakthrough presented the 5th annual Elizabeth D. Hodder award to Christian Mirdanda, a Breakthrough Teaching Fellow in 2015 and 2016 and recent graduate of Denison University. The audience witnessed a heartfelt tribute from one of Christian’s Breakthrough students, Angelique Joseph.
4. Raised over $115,000 to support educational equity in
Greater Boston.

Breakthrough would especially like to thank our event sponsors, event hosts, and individual supporters for their shared commitment to Breakthrough’s mission.