Zach Diamond  0:03  
Welcome to the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. Each week, we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self-paced and mastery-based learning to better serve their students. We believe teachers learn best from each other. So this is our way of lifting up the voices of leaders and innovators in our community. This is the Modern Classrooms Project podcast.

Toni Rose Deanon  0:28  
Hello, and welcome to episode 146 of the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon, she/they pronouns, a Community Engagement Manager here at MCP, and I am joined today by Dr. Emily Persons, a research and evaluation manager here at Modern Classrooms. Welcome, Emily.

Emily Persons  0:44  
Hi, Toni Rose, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Toni Rose Deanon  0:47  
Yeah, it's so exciting to be in this space with you. And thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast. Before we get started. What is bringing you joy currently?

Emily Persons  0:55  
Well, we've been doing a lot of traveling lately for weddings and other things. We were actually in like three different cities last week. So it's been really great to have a chance to reconnect with people, folks I haven't seen in like fear sometimes. And just to have a chance to visit new places. So I'm really living in a space of gratitude around that right now. It's really bringing me a lot of joy.

Toni Rose Deanon  1:16  
Oh, I love to hear that. I know, traveling is always always so exciting and also exhausting. So I hope you're resting after the three-city adventure that you had. Okay, well tell us more about who you are and how you started your MCP journey?

Emily Persons  1:33  
Sure, well, my MCP journey is a bit unconventional in that I've worked with students at the college level, so maybe a different context. My background is in education research. My PhD is in sociology. So seeing a problem asking questions and using data to find potential solutions to that problem is something that I really love to do. That might be like really awkward in the sun, but I love it. Through my research and other work experience, I saw the transformation of technology used in classrooms, especially with what we experienced during COVID. With learning shifting from classrooms, to online and back to classrooms. At the time, I really felt like a lot of the work that came out of it really focused on using technology as a tool to affect student outcomes. And there was less of a focus on strategies to empower educators to use technology. And that's really how I fell into MCP, I was really drawn to the model and the mission to empower educators and then to in turn empower students that really resonated with me and really drew me to the organization.

Toni Rose Deanon  2:37  
Oh, that's so cool. I don't think I knew all of that. So it's kind of exciting to just kind of get to know you in a different angle today, which is great. And I also appreciate the fact that you love what you do. So thank goodness for folks like you because research data, all of that different language. So, definitely still try to shift my mindset on data, just because it's such a triggering word for me as an educator of 10 plus years where there's just been a lot of negative connotation about data and how it's used. So it's really interesting to hear you just kind of talk about the research and how you came across MCP. So we're really, really excited. I know that when I first met you, I was just like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be so dope. This is gonna be so cool. I get to work with Emily full time, and I get to learn alongside her. So it's really exciting. So okay, you know, like I said, often in education, educators have to keep data in mind. So let's define data. First of all, what does data mean to you?

Emily Persons  3:43  
I love this question, Toni Rose, because data can be so many things. I think we often think data equals numbers, which is true. But data can be so many other things. And to me, Data is information. And information can take on lots of different forms. It can be numeric and test scores or survey responses, or it can just better help us understand context or observations or interviews and focus groups. The way that we collect data can be really structured like through surveys about attitudes or scores on tests or assignments. But data can also be collected very informally. So if you're observing one day that one of your students disposition or moods just a little different, that's data to so to me data can be just so many pieces of information. And it's really how we use that information to inform our own actions or growth that's really exciting to me.

Toni Rose Deanon  4:33  
You know, you made a really good point because I was definitely one of those teachers that thought that data was just numbers and I taught English so numbers were not my best friend and therefore I avoided it so hard and so it's really good to understand and hear you say that data is just information whatever that information could be. It's still data. I know that I came across and I think it was from Elena Aguilar is like bright more I mean, one of the one of their sessions, and, you know, they just pointed out that emotions are data as well. And I just that just really resonated with me because I feel like I'm a very emotional focused individual. And sometimes I definitely need to take a step back from that. But like you said, conversations, observations, all of that can still be data. And I now I mean, it's bringing back memories of one of my courses when I was in college, where we talked about anecdotal data, right? Where we're literally just observing the student and taking notes and seeing, like you said, the attitude that changes. And, and I do a lot of that. So it's kind of validating to be like, Oh, okay, I do some things well. And so, you know, like I said, also, the word data is this triggering, and I've seen this in our community as well, where our teachers or educators are like, Oh, I don't really like this word, because of how admin or leadership has really spun it. And just like the talk of data can be just a scary thing. Because, you know, a lot of like, The Times evaluations are tied to it, and, you know, raises and all of that good stuff, right. So, I was expected to know how to use data, it was one of those things where I came into the school. And our principal was really focused on data, like we had to have a data wall to show like how our students were doing. And when they did a walkthrough, that was the one thing that we're looking at in the classroom was that data wall. And so I was just always like up in arms about keeping this data wall updated. And, and it was just again, it was just very triggering situation for me. And so how can we alleviate some of the stress that educators have when it comes to data?

Emily Persons  7:00  
Yeah, no, that's a great question. Often hearing the word data, like you mentioned, can evoke these stressful feelings, a lot of times because data becomes synonymous with evaluation. And that can certainly be stressful, or sometimes even just can just feel overwhelming. If you have a lot of data, sometimes you just feel like, where do I start. And if anyone has any type of math, anxiety, data can definitely be very triggering. So I think it's really important just to start by recognizing and naming this and calling on the need to sometimes reframe or shift our perceptions around data. Not all data collections need to be tied to high stakes decisions like evaluations. And not all decisions need to be data driven, or require huge data collection effort. So I think there's a balance, we can start. But if we think about data as information, we all have feedback, and data can be a great mechanism for us to improve our practice. So I think it's important to start there. One practical piece of advice that I can think of, it's really important when we think about theater research is to start small. You don't have to knock it out of the park with your first try. Rome wasn't built in a day insert extra cliche here. But typically, we're using data to answer a question that we're interested in, for example, maybe you want to know how your students feel about small groups. And it's totally up to you how you answer that question. If you're collecting data. Maybe you start by thinking about how your students feel about small groups for a certain lesson or unit, rather than the bigger question of am I being Am I implementing this pedagogy successfully? So I think it's important to think about the scale of how we're approaching some of the questions that we want to answer with data, and know that it's okay to start small, and you have to start somewhere. And it's okay to use those findings to ramp up your data collection or to inform follow up questions or further research.

Toni Rose Deanon  8:51  
I really liked that you pointed out just the collection of data, right? And, and something that I thought about just like I don't know, it just randomly clicked in my head, Emily. And this makes sense. So ridiculous. But reflections, the learner reflections, that's data, right? Because it does inform me as an educator, what my students are understanding and what they don't understand and how they're feeling about the formatting of the lesson. So it's definitely collecting of data, which I think I don't know why it just clicked out. Because I love reflections. I love providing time and space for folks to reflect because I think it's such an important part of our, our journey in this world is to reflect. And so thank you again, like I just feel so validated. Like, oh, I should have had this conversation maybe seven years ago. But that's okay. And you know, like you said, I also have a lot of like, informal conversations with learners and educators and those are all data and Okay, Yeah, just acknowledging the fact that it can be triggering that, you know, it could cause some anxiety, and then figuring out ways that'll work for us. Now, you said the word data driven. And that evoked a lot of emotions for me. And I know as an organization, we always say like, this is data driven. Why do you think it's necessary to say it's data driven?

Emily Persons  10:20  
I think a lot of times, we think about the evidence that we have behind certain decisions that we're making. And it's, I think, comforting for a lot of folks in leadership and outside of to just really be able to lean on having that evidence that maybe captured through data, I certainly think it shouldn't be the only evidence, you know, there, there are lots of different types of data. But it doesn't necessarily have to be the only thing that guides our decision making. But a lot of times just having that evidence can be helpful as we think about how we're reaching certain decisions or what our next steps are, or what our action steps should be going forward.

Toni Rose Deanon  11:01  
Yeah, cuz I know that whenever we use that phrase, or whenever people or leaders use that phrase, right, it kind of like an organization's as well, ears perk up, right? Like, oh, there's data, it's data driven. And I don't know, maybe it's me being bitter about the word data set. I'm just like, rolling my eyes, it'd be like, You need to have data driven as like a way to get your attention, which I guess it's a good starting point, like you said, so clearly, I'm still like trying to manage my emotions about data. So like, you know, you just named a whole bunch of reasons why data is important, right? And, but there are definitely some challenges when it comes to data and biases. How can we keep our biases in check when collecting data to inform our next steps?

Emily Persons  11:57  
So bias is a huge topic in research. Often our our goal, as researchers will say, is to be objective, but in a lot of ways that's really hard to do, and sometimes impossible. There are a lot of academic debates about how we can limit bias, what types of research methods are best to do this. But instead of sort of going down that spiral, I like to suggest a couple of things. The first is that we check our assumptions, we all have them. And these assumptions are often present how we frame and think about the questions we want to research. And these assumptions can be exceptionally consequential to how we analyze or interpret the data that we collect. So the first thing we should do is acknowledge, what are we assuming when we ask certain research questions? And should we think about reframing or rephrasing how we think about particular things? So something that's very common in educational research is the assumption of the presence of gaps in various outcomes? I think we should think about, are we framing our research in a way that assumes these gaps are already present? Are we letting our data show us the story. So I really think just being aware of our assumptions can be really important because it can impact the type of data we're collecting, and also the lens that we look at that data through. And then second, where possible, I was just not relying only on one data source to inform next steps. So having multiple data sources can really help to minimize bias, because if you're seeing similar trends across multiple data sources, for example, if you're seeing similar things from surveys from those reflections that we mentioned earlier, in assignments, then you can be a bit more confident in what you're finding. So in the social sciences, we call this triangulation. But I think those are a couple of pieces of advice. So I start with when we talk about bias in research.

Toni Rose Deanon  13:49  
I love that it's really hard to also just check our assumptions as well. So I'm thinking this is definitely where like a thought partner comes in, right? So they can also check what you're lacking, instead of like you just going for it. And I know that one of the practices that I had in when I was in the classroom was that I always asked for student input, I asked for my learners what they thought like, Hey, here's some questions that is this. This is sound good. What am I missing, because there's always something we're missing, right? And so kind of collectively, coming up with different things that I'm missing or like waste improve is also really important. And so I love that I feel like those two are very practical. And it seems so easy, but it's really hard. Really, really hard. Because sometimes we just don't know what we don't know, right? We don't know that we actually have a bias against something and like we don't know that we're actually making an assumption and I one of the things that you said really resonated with me was that are we assuming that they're, you know, that there are gaps here that, you know, we're filling up the gaps, but then also understanding that like, are we allowing for data to really speak for itself but also thinking And keeping in mind that like, again, when you collect those data, it's from multiple sources. And it's not just that one, right? Gosh, life is just so full of layers. Hmm. So beautiful. So I mean, this this episode is really all about data equity, I came across that terminology. And I know that you and I do a lot of work when it comes to equity and equitable practices. So what I mean, what does that really mean? Honestly, I know that we've talked about biases, I know that we've talked about being mindful. But what is data equity? And I know there's like a push for it. But can you tell me more about that, like, teach me a couple of things?

Emily Persons  15:41  
Yeah, so I think when we typically talk about data and equity, we often think about using data to support equity efforts, leading to specific outcomes, almost in a data for equity sense. But data equity, as I see, it is a bit different. And that, to me, it really focuses more on helping anyone who uses data to center equity and inclusivity throughout every stage of a project. So this is from start to finish. You know, we're not just using data analysis and a way to look at individual subgroups, we're considering equity in a more holistic way with our research. So with this, I think it's really important to think about questions like whose voices are represented, when we're designing a study, who are we collecting data from, what contexts are represented, and almost more importantly, who's not represented? Right. And the goal here is not simply to check off a list and say, we have all these different characteristics represented, our sample is diverse, I think it's really to think deeply about the context that we're learning about and the types of decisions, types of decisions that we're making, based on this data. And information is power, there's consequences to the types of decisions that we make, based off of data that we have. So it's important to consider this upfront and to consider it often, especially because the data that we collect are often about people, you know, we're collecting data about students and teachers. And data equity is about being transparent and being accountable to all of those who are involved in our work.

Toni Rose Deanon  17:07  
So that was so amazing, Emily. I mean, information is powerful, right? I mean, there's like this whole movement about fake news and how information gets in front of folks. And, and like you said, it's just kind of making sure like, who's there and then who's not there. Another comment that you said was the checklist, I feel like, a lot of the times because we as a society are so wired to just have checklists, right? And not like kind of just going through the motions and not really feeling any kind of authentic or January connection to the work that we're doing. And so, the checklist has been like a big conversation as far as the equity work is concerned, right? It's always like, okay, but I need something tangible, I need something that I can like check off to make sure that I'm doing the quote unquote, right thing, right. And so, yeah, this, this all just resonates. Thank you for sharing that. I just feel like I have so much to process now. So let's shift gears, MCP is releasing the research toolkit, because a lot of folks are always asking about the research behind our model. Tell us more about this research toolkit, because I know that I know nothing about it. So this is gonna be really interesting.

Emily Persons  18:26  
Sure, so we have two toolkits, one for teachers and one for school and district leaders. And both of these are really here to help our educators and future leaders sort of explore the impacts of the modern classroom model in their context. So the teacher toolkit will help you understand the impact of a model on your students. This can be very low stakes, you don't have to share this data with anyone, but it's a great opportunity to get a student voice and hear more about the student experience with the model. So in addition to the reflection questions, which we talked about earlier, this is another way to really open up a conversation about how students feel about the model what's working well, what's not. So on the website, we have a validated survey instrument that asks students about motivation, feelings of self directed learning confidence, these are survey survey questions that came from our Johns Hopkins study. So you can ask these questions, we recommend at least twice a year. And we have a tool that helps you collect this data from your students, but also will summarize their responses at these different time points for you. And it produces these really pretty graphs. So if you want to use them, however you want to use them. Personally, I've heard some educators use them in portfolios, and things of that nature, you feel free to use them as you see fit. We do plan to add more resources to this toolkit over the summer. We will plan to hold a webinar to introduce these new pieces in the fall so stay tuned for that. On the leader side, we just rolled out a school and district leader toolkit during our summer leadership class. Every session, and this is geared towards leaders who want to understand the impacts on model can have on their teachers on their students and on their schools. The toolkit has resources to understand the literature behind our model some of the main driving factors. If you're interested in conducting classroom observations in your MCP classrooms, we have some tools and best practices for that. And they also have some resources for leaders who are interested in designing their own impact study, or just are interested in studying more about their own MCP classrooms. So lots of resources available. And this particular toolkit is will be on our website, but it can be accessed in the show notes.

Toni Rose Deanon  20:41  
Oh, you know what, now that you're talking about it, I want to recap my previous statement, I do know that. I've seen it so much. So I'm like, oh, wait a minute. I know exactly. Whatever he's talking. Have you gotten any feedback on the teacher research toolkit? Like is it helpful for them? Is there something that they want to see more of? And I know, you said that there that y'all are planning on adding more resources, what kind of resources?

Emily Persons  21:14  
So I think we're sort of planning on rolling the teacher toolkit into a larger Action Research Guide to sort of help empower educators to do their own impact we serve similar to the leader toolkit in their own classrooms. I know I've heard, I've heard quite a bit like we're pretty active in terms of like, if something's not working on the toolkit, or on the tracker tool that we have that helps create the graphs, you know, there's always we're available to help out if you're having some trouble with it. And I've heard some, we've heard some feedback to try to think right now just has like a pre and post. So it's the beginning of the year and end of the year. But some educators are, you know, they're collecting data, three different time points, and they want to be able to visualize that. So we are expanding that particular tool to be able to include three time points as well. But yeah, we've heard from a few folks that they're using it in different ways. And it's really exciting. And so if there are ways that we could potentially expand what's being offered in the toolkit, if there are things and resources that you would like to see that aren't a part of our toolkits, please feel free to reach out to us. And we'll be happy to see if we can include those

Toni Rose Deanon  22:26  
beautiful and so I have a follow up question that's off script. Do we have any data? Or have we been able to collect data from teeth from educators who have been implementing this model for more than a year? So let's say like a second year implementer versus a third year implementer? Versus a fourth year and a first year? Do we have that data?

Emily Persons  22:45  
Well, we collect a lot of data through various survey efforts. So we have a survey that we send out called our engaged user survey. That goes out twice a year. So we do have some data from folks who are newly implementing from, I think this broad group of folks who responded, completed VSI, the previous year in the year before. So from the survey effort, we have data from newly, newly implementing educators and those who've been implementing for a year, we have been able to capture that pretty regularly for the last couple of years. With this new toolkit, we are hoping to also empower educators who have been implementing longer, those who are new to implementing to think about ways that they can include some of this research in their classrooms. And so hopefully, as we kick off this new teacher research toolkit in the fall, we'll be able to collect some more of that data from folks who've implemented for a range of different years.

Toni Rose Deanon  23:53  
I'm also really curious too Emily with our mentorship program. So like our Mentor Academy, so our mentors, I wonder if there's something or there's like a collection of data where our mentors have talked about how mentoring has improved and made their teaching and learning practices back in a classroom is better.

Emily Persons  24:14  
Yes. So that's also another thing that we collect as a part of our mentor survey. We collect this twice a year. So we try to use those responses as ways to help provide additional supports as identified by our mentors. And we try to use that as a place to also reach out and understand how mentation has changed how or know if and how being a part of MCP has changed their classroom practices. And we find we try to find ways to support 

Toni Rose Deanon  24:48  
Yeah, cuz I can definitely I know that I've heard time and time again from our mentors, just how much they're learning from their mentees. And so you know, our mentors Get to work with educators all over the world. So you get to really see different grades, different content, different school systems, different ways of evaluating and assessing. And so it's such an eye opening experience. I always say this, but like one of my favorite things that I did when I first started out modern classroom was mentoring, because I just got to connect with educators who are doing the same thing I'm doing, and then really stealing their ideas of how they wanted three pillars in their classroom. Because I mean, even at one point, I was an instructional coach. And I had like, 20, over 20 Min. mentees? I mean, that's definitely not sustainable. This is when you first started out, but it was like, my favorite thing to do is to just have conversations with these English teachers and just be like, Oh, I didn't even think to consider to do it that way. Or, like, how, how did you do this thing, because I want to implement that as well, or at least the show the educators that I'm working with, at my school, how to do this thing that you're doing. And so that's really, really, really dope, right. And so we've, you've kind of mentioned this already with the surveys, right? The free course, surveys, but all throughout, but if any educators, school leaders have had any kind of interaction with us, they probably had the opportunity to take a survey, right to tell us how they really feel. And so I know that you've, you did a lot of work with focus groups, and especially with our distinguished modern classroom educators. Can you tell us more about that?

Emily Persons  26:34  
Sure. Well, I'll talk a little bit broadly about how we collect data and MCP, we have a couple of different, I think, approaches to research and data collection. The first is through more like traditional program valuation studies. And we usually do that with outside research partners. And that work really helps us determine the effectiveness of our model. So that typically looks like comparing student and teacher outcomes for treatment classrooms that received our training to those in control classrooms that did not. And these outcomes, we often collect through surveys, things about like attitudes and perceptions of belonging in the classroom. This can be measures about motivation and efficacy, as well as some interviews that we'll do and administrative data that we might collect from districts. And the second main category of our research really has to do with our internal continuous improvement work. And this really helps us to improve our programming and support on a more regular basis. So like you mentioned, we're often collecting feedback through lots of different surveys and forms from educators as they complete our course. And we try to use that the responses and the findings that we sort of pull from those interactions to make improvements to our programming. So we're collecting surveys, the survey data at the end of modules throughout the course, we're holding focus groups with educators just especially if we're considering new features or programming, we like to try to get a temperature check in, reach out to our RVs users to sort of preview that with them and try to work through some things. We survey our mentors, like we talked about earlier to get feedback on what's been working well or not. And when you apply to become a DNC, we collect feedback on that experience as well. We also have some behavioral metadata that we can use to to see if there are particular areas that are challenging to users within our course. So there are a lot of touch points that we have to collect information directly from our users. And a lot of our data collections kind of build off with each other. If we noticed something in our surveys, or if we noticed something through our, you know, metadata, we may pull in a group of users for focus groups or interviews to just sort of dig deeper, and try to get their perspectives on some of what we're seeing. But we generally just try to use that data to guide the changes that we make to improve course outcomes and the experience that folks have with our course. 

Toni Rose Deanon  28:59  
Okay,that's, that's a, what a good time. There's so many touch points there, which I think is really awesome. So we're like constantly asking for feedback, right? Like, in a way I love this opportunity for educators is kind of tell us how there's, there's their experience was right. So and maybe you don't have the answer for this, Emily, but what has been your favorite feedback that you've come across? That has impacted the work that you do?

Emily Persons  29:33  
Ooh. That's such a good question. Toni Rose,

Toni Rose Deanon  29:36  
and I know I just came up with it.

Emily Persons  29:38  
I know. That's a great question. I love to just get different perspectives. So yes, we have a lot of touch points, but I love all of them. Because those are all different experiences with modern classrooms, and it's just great to understand different perspectives. You mentioned earlier something that I I see all the time in our mentor surveys. And I love it every time I see it. Mentors tell us that they Well, first of all mentors love. Being able to support other educators just having the opportunity to be with other educators. I love to see that. But I love hearing when folks are so influenced by what they see from other educators that they steal for their own classroom. I love that I think that speaks volumes to just the the impact that modern classrooms has, like, it isn't, you know, it's not just a one way interaction, it's something that folks get value from doesn't matter where it was, you know, where you stand sort of in our pipeline, or like in our programming, you know, there's just tremendous value across the board. And I love to see that.

Toni Rose Deanon  30:48  
Yeah, I know that when I was in a classroom, my favorite thing to do was go observe my colleagues. Because oftentimes, right I say this all the time is that educators, we feel isolated within those four walls. And so really pushing ourselves to step outside of those four walls to go see all the other great things that are happening in the school is really important for us. Now, I know that time is an issue, and it can be really challenging. And I think that, you know, what I did with it was just like a quick 10 minute pop in to see how my colleagues were interacting with students if there was something that I needed to implement in my classroom as well. But also understanding that I let that I let my colleagues know, like, hey, I really want to check out this thing, because that my students were talking about it, right? So I want to check it out and see like, when would be a good time to pop in? Would it be the beginning of class, the end of class or middle of the class. And so really having those conversations with educators kind of really pushed me out of my own comfort zone, and also pushed me to implement some of the things that I've never done before. And I really, I do love that, like, our mentors are always constantly talking about that, right? Like, oh, man, I learned this thing about, you know, doing this. And I mean, I even had mentee, who was a dance teacher, and I knew nothing about teaching dance. And so really, I was just at all of how people are. Power educators are so creative, and so passionate about creating a blended, self paced, mastery based learning environment for all of their learners, which I think is really dope. So what does I mean, this could be something that you've already answered, and so if so we just move on. But how does MCP check our biases when it comes to data collection?

Emily Persons  32:37  
Well, I mentioned triangulation earlier, where there's not one data source that determines, you know, our decision making I think we as an organization do this really well. Like I mentioned before, we have many different sources of data that we can consult as you're making improvement. So I think we're on a good path there. I also you mentioned this earlier, and, and having a thought partner. And I think that's also really important. I think our research team works really collaboratively. With our program team and our partnerships team as we develop research plans and plans to go out and collect data. I think this type of collaboration has been really helpful as we think about checking assumptions, because they're just more eyes on our research questions. And there's input from staff members who are in the field. So I think having a hot partner is really important. I think we're doing that with some of the collaboration across our teams.

Toni Rose Deanon  33:28  
Yeah, and that's also just a common practice that MCP is that we really do open up the space for other folks in different teams to come in and, and have, you know, and share their thoughts and opinions and comments and suggestions. So I really liked that. Another thing that just came up for me when you were talking was also you know, like having a thought partner is great. And also keeping in mind, like I really love reaching out to my friends who are non educators. So then I could have conversations or ask for their input, because again, that's a different perspective, right? I know, as an educator, even just like an adult life, we tend to be around folks who do the same thing as us. And so as a collective, we sometimes are lacking something. And so in my mind, it's really clear, but for my friend who's doing public health, my best friend who's doing public health, it may not be as clear to him and so having these conversations to make sure that like what I'm saying is clear, so that everyone can understand it. It's accessible for everyone. So it's really good point about that partners. Okay, well, Emily, what do you hope to see in the future articles do you have?

Emily Persons  34:35  
No I think we're doing a great job as a growing research team and organization collecting lots of interesting types of data. Along data equity lines, I'm really excited for us to consider how we continue to bring student and eventually parent voices into our work a bit more, because they're also important stakeholders to hear from and this process. A big goal for us in the next couple of years as a research team is to dig deeper into what info mentation looks like. So what happens next after educators finish our training? And then what does implementation look like in different types of school contexts? We recently received in education, innovation and research grant or an e ir from the Department of Education. And we'll be exploring that very question very soon for middle school math educators at title one school. So I'm definitely looking forward to that. There's a lot of exciting research to come here at MCP.

Toni Rose Deanon  35:26  
There's so much to collect, right? So many stories, so much data. And it's again, like the different layers and the different resources that data is coming from you. Oh, my gosh, Emily, I would love if we had family data collection, right, like just hearing what our families have to say about the model. I think that in itself is going to be so impactful, because I know that we often again, right, like we often get questions, which is good. We welcome questions and hesitations, that means people are paying attention. So I'm all about that we're going to embrace it. I think it'd be really dope to hear from families and how they've seen this model impact their learners, just teaching and learning journey. So ooh, that's exciting. Okay, so how can our listeners connect with you? 

Emily Persons  36:18  
So if it has questions about what we discussed today, or just general research questions, feel free to reach out to us at research@modernclassrooms.org, sometimes you'll see surveys or other research requests also coming from that email. So if you see us in your inbox, hi, it's me. We'd love to hear back from you. Also, feel free to visit our impact page to learn more about any of our current research projects or previous projects or for updates of what we're up to. You can access that at modernclassrooms.org/impact-overview. Our teacher toolkit is also on our website, and that can be accessed at modernclassrooms.org/research-toolkit. Leader toolkit will be posted to our website, but please see the show notes for those. And if you want to connect with me on Twitter, I'm not very active on Twitter right now, but maybe this will make me more active on Twitter. Find me @EmilyRPersons.

Toni Rose Deanon  37:12  
Beautiful. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Emily, listeners remember, you can always email us at podcast@modernclassrooms.org. And you can find the show notes for this episode at podcast.modernclassrooms.org/146. We'll have this episodes transcript uploaded by Friday, so be sure to check back to access those. Thank you all for listening. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday. Thank you Emily.

Zach Diamond  37:43  
Thank you so much for listening. You can find links to topics and tools we discussed in our show notes for this episode. And remember, you can learn more about our work at www.modernclassrooms.org And you can learn the essentials of our model through our free course at learn.modernclassrooms.org. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @modernclassproj. That's p r o j we are so appreciative of all you do for students in schools. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the Modern Classrooms Project podcast.