Founders
In 2011 Joel Rose and Christopher Rush founded New Classrooms on the premise that school, could be reimagined to ensure each student receives the instruction they require and deserve.
Redesigning the Classroom Experience for Each and Every Student
- LEADERS
- SCHOOL STAKEHOLDERS
- FOCUS AREAS
Founders
We are a nonprofit organization made up of educators, operators, and technologists who collaborate with schools to enable personalized learning for students. Our founding team includes many leaders and original members of School of One, New York City’s award-winning, personalized educational program named one of the top 50 inventions of 2009 by TIME. We at New Classrooms are committed to an organizational culture that values imaginative thinking, superior execution, and open and purposeful collaboration.
The team is led by Joel Rose and Chris Rush, the Co-Founders of New Classrooms.
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Joel Rose is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of New Classrooms Innovation Partners. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of School of One, an initiative within the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) that uses a mix of live, collaborative, and online instruction in order to provide students with instruction customized to their unique academic needs and learning styles. Prior to conceptualizing and leading School of One, Joel served as Chief Executive for Human Capital and as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Chancellor at NYCDOE. Joel has been involved in education for more than 15 years, first as a fifth grade teacher in Houston and later as a senior executive at Edison Schools where he served as the company‘s Associate General Counsel, Chief of Staff, General Manager, and Vice President for School Operations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Tufts University, a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, and is a graduate of the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy. Joel lives in Manhattan with his wife, Doris Cooper, and their two children, Alexandra and Zachary. |
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Christopher Rush is the Co-Founder and Chief Program Officer of New Classrooms Innovation Partners. Most recently, he lead the overall conceptualization, design and implementation of the School of One program. Previously, he led design and development of Wireless Generation's mCLASS reporting systems and initiated the creation of their consulting services group and served as its Executive Director. Additionally, Chris worked with the NYCDOE, co-leading the design of the initial versions of their citywide parent, teacher and administrator longitudinal data system. Prior to that, Chris specialized in financial management and IT development services at IBM. Chris was an Outdoor Education Specialist at an environmental education center with Upper Dublin (PA) School District. He holds a BS in Information Systems from Penn State with concentrations in Computer Science, Technological Ethics and Critical Thinking; a MS in Information Technology from the American InterContinental University and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. |
Board of Directors
| Mike Bezos Co-Founder Bezos Family Foundation |
Ariel J. Deckelbaum Partner Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP |
Joshua Lewis Founder and Managing Principal Salmon River Capital |
| David N. Shine Partner Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP |
Gideon Stein Founder and CEO LightSail Education |
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Joel Rose and Chris Rush also serve on the Board of Directors.
Board of Advisors
The New Classrooms Board of Advisors is a volunteer team of prominent education leaders who provide New Classrooms with strategic guidance on a range of academic and organizational issues such as student learning progressions, program research and evaluation design, school culture, teacher professional development, organizational design, fiscal management, governmental relations, and communications.
| Norman Atkins Co-Founder and President Relay Graduate School of Education |
Ann Bradley Director American Federation of Teachers Innovation Fund |
Anthony Bryk President Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching |
| Tom Carroll President National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future |
Chris Dede Professor in Learning Technologies Harvard Graduate School of Education |
Mike Feinberg Co-Founder KIPP |
| Susan Fuhrman President Teachers College Columbia University |
John Katzman Founder and Executive Chairman 2tor |
Marguerite Kondracke President & CEO America's Promise Alliance |
| Wendy Kopp CEO and Founder Teach For America CEO and Co-Founder Teach For All |
David Levin Co-Founder KIPP |
Arthur Levine President Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation |
| Ellen Moir Founder and CEO The New Teacher Center |
Tom Payzant Former Professor of Practice Harvard Graduate School of Education Former Superintendent Boston Public Schools |
Jenny Shilling Stein Executive Director Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation |
| Tom Vander Ark Founder Getting Smart |
Gene Wilhoit Executive Director Council of Chief State School Officers |
Joe Wolf Board of Directors Innosight Institute |
Funders
New Classrooms’ national philanthropic partnerships include the following organizations:
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Local Partners
Implementations in our partner districts are supported by the following organizations:
Chicago Public Schools
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DC Public Schools
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New York City
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Academics
Our model provides instructional experiences designed to bring meaning and context to the skills students learn.
At the core of each of New Classrooms’ instructional model is a robust academic framework that includes a research-based learning progression, integrated units of study, and the opportunity for students across the academic spectrum to be challenged and inspired.
We work in partnership with educational publishers, content providers, and our own math experts to ensure teachers and students are able to access engaging, effective lessons that help to build a deep, conceptual understanding of each skill. We complement these lessons with an assessment program that diagnoses individual strengths and weaknesses, guides the creation of daily schedules, and measures the retention of skills over time.
New Classrooms is proud to partner with the following print and digital content providers:
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School Partnerships
New Classrooms partners with traditional district, charter, and independent schools to support the implementation of our models.
Our models are not simply off-the-shelf products. We work closely with partnership schools to customize the program to the unique culture and needs of each school and take great care to ensure that we operate in schools that are a good fit for our model.
Once a partnership site is identified, New Classrooms works with local facilities and technology experts to ensure the school site has the necessary infrastructure to support the model. We then provide both on- and off-site logistical support and professional development throughout the school year.
Technology
Technology is a key enabler of our models.
New Classrooms manages a complex scheduling algorithm that takes into account several factors about each student, each lesson, and each day in order to develop the most optimal teacher and student schedules.
New Classrooms also manages all of the underlying databases and technology systems that support the model and helps partnership sites configure their technology to support implementation.