Highlander Institute

In 2006, the launch of the Hasbro Center for Teaching Excellence (through generous multi-year support from Hasbro Children’s Fund) established the Institute as a credible regional provider of high quality professional development. By 2011, the Highlander Institute shifted again- this time, realizing that the dawn of new educational technology was opening the door for “blended” methods to reach all students. It was clear that the innovation in personalizing education was not only in the approach, but in the ability to utilize technology to scale the impact beyond a few rockstar teachers, lighthouse classrooms, or lab schools. Today, the Highlander Institute services are directed at improving education by focusing on the educator, providing unique, tailored, embedded supports at the classroom, school and district level. The Highlander Institute specialized in blended and personalized learning models that are focused on creating equity through education. The Institute designs and implements proof-of-concept work, building not only the tools that enable districts to diagnose problems and design solutions from a student-centered perspective but also the capacity-building strategies that energize local educators to customize Institute knowledge and experience, mobilizing home-grown teams of personalized learning specialists.