Our Community Scrapbook
Our Communities
Our learning communities offer educators the collaborative time, space, resources and support they need to grow both relationally and professionally. Our annual learning agendas offer a mix of in-person, online and blended experiences that range from our signature quarterly gatherings to multi-part learning series to role-alike spaces and more. We bring expert guest faculty and experienced facilitators to every learning experience to ensure that all participants leave inspired, energized, and with new ideas they can put into practice back in their school or district.
Our Flagship: The Essex County Learning Community
Essex County is where our flagship, Essex County Learning Community (ECLC), began. The region is home to a mix of urban, suburban, and rural school districts. When we first got acquainted with the county, we developed relationships with the Lawrence and Salem Public Schools, two of the largest school districts, developing and implementing a strategy with each based on their expressed needs. We then invited every district in the county to reply to a Letter of Invitation, signaling their interest in participating in a cross-district cohort. We launched ECLC in 2018 with six districts, and have since grown to 20 from across the region.
Members of the ECLC communities developed this mission statement to define their work together:
ECLC is an ongoing and vibrant network of educators challenging bias and disrupting inequitable systems to drive sustainable change in public schools. ECLC’s participating school districts serve increasingly diverse student populations from prekindergarten (PK) through grade 12.
Essex County By the Numbers
The cities and towns that comprise the Essex County Learning Community are a microcosm of the state—with expansive suburban communities, bustling urban centers, a vibrant coastline, and acres of rural horse country. 810,000 residents live in Essex County— making it the third-most populous county in Massachusetts. ECLC encompasses:
schools
students
teachers and administrators
Significant demographic and socioeconomic shifts over the past decade prompted educators in the region to seek out a new type of professional learning to broaden and deepen their practice.
We knew that they could achieve more by working together than they could do on their own.
We also saw that educators at all levels, including superintendents, administrators, school leaders, support staff, and teachers, could benefit from having access to the collective wisdom of colleagues from across the county who they could turn to for support.
We have learned a lot through our work in Essex County, and are eager to share our model for learning in community with other districts around Massachusetts and beyond.