Mid-Pacific Institute announced in December the receipt of a $250,000 Educational Leadership Grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation. The funds will be used to catalyze the expansion of its Global Exchange (GlobalX) Academy, a newly launched Hawaii-based hub for virtual teaching and learning. GlobalX directly addresses the need for accessible, relevant and learner-centered experiences for public, private, and public charter school students to supplement campus-based curricula and support various interests and passions. GlobalX provides learning opportunities for learners of any age, including courses for adults.
An extremely competitive grant, the Edward E. Ford Foundation seeks to improve secondary education by supporting U.S. independent schools to help them grow and develop in pursuit of their own missions. This prominent national foundation is reputed for its support of only the most innovative and impactful ideas for advancing education. The Educational Leadership Grant is awarded to independent schools that encourage bold, new ideas that address challenges, inspire creative problem-solving and original thinking, and have a ripple effect where the benefits are not limited to a single school. The Education Leadership Grant is a matching grant and Mid-Pacific proposes a 2:1 match to the Edward E. Ford Foundation’s $250,000 investment in GlobalX for a total of $750,000 toward the academy.
“Innovation in education has been at the core of Mid-Pacific since the early 1900s and remains a constant today, blended with supportive deeper learning practices to future-proof our students for the jobs of tomorrow,” said Paul Turnbull, Ph.D., Mid-Pacific Institute President. “This grant allows Mid-Pacific to reach even more students and communities, thereby increasing its statewide impact. Through GlobalX, we further Deeper Learning opportunities through extended learning programs, virtual educational platforms, and professional development.”
An accessible, economical option for enhancing one’s educational journey, GlobalX and its extended learning programs will benefit all students (DOE, private, charter, neighbor island) in grades 4-12 and adults of any age. Informed by Deeper Learning principles, which focus on mastering content and employing critical thinking, this new educational platform provides scalable and customizable solutions to sustain and supplement on-campus learning through its courses, curriculum, workshops and opportunities that connect learners with place, culture and community. GlobalX learner-centered experiences will include:
- credit-bearing, co-curricular and professional courses,
- summer school courses and programs,
- micro-courses,
- studios,
- certificate-based courses,
- community-based learning workshops,
- and internships.
“Mid-Pacific Institute is honored to receive such a prestigious award to further the development of our GlobalX program,” said Shannon Cleary, Mid-Pacific Institute Vice President of Institutional Advancement. “GlobalX curriculum is informed by Deeper Learning principles, which focus on mastering content and employing critical thinking, and targets the needs of Hawaii’s local island communities. We look forward to bringing many new and impactful learning experiences to all ages of learners statewide.”
GlobalX is one facet of Mid-Pacific’s Center for Advancing Education, which aims to build a global community that is committed to transforming schools, placing intellectual curiosity and the inquiry process at the center of teaching and learning, and igniting and perpetuating the joy of learning on behalf of teachers and students in any institution.