On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the internationally renowned organization HundrED, in partnership with Remake Learning and The Grable Foundation, published the Learning Across America Forerunners Report, detailing system-wide, impactful and scalable learning innovations from 16 regions across the country.
The PDC’s ongoing Children Are Citizens (CAC) initiative, which aims to foster civic agency in our youngest learners, was selected to be the DMV’s featured innovation in the report!.

Jim Reese, PDC Director and CAC Project Manager, said, “While this recognition is a great honor for the PDC and Children Are Citizens overall, it’s a testament to the commitment and brilliance of the 100+ teachers and 1000+ children across the District who have participated since 2014.”

The report was unveiled at a special online event in conjunction with Remake Learning’s national launch of their 2021 Remake Learning Days Across America festival. Remake Learning Days Across America Producer Dorie Taylor hopes that “parents, caregivers and educators across all communities will be inspired by the learning kids are doing alongside their caring adults and think about what they hope to see in their own communities.”

“There may not be another moment in our lifetimes when educators are thinking as boldly about what education and learning might be than right now. We should embrace these innovations as signals about what’s possible,” said Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation and co-chair of Remake Learning.  “And if we introduce these possibilities to parents, and we genuinely involve families as learning allies alongside our students and teachers, then we just might actually remake learning for years to come. That’s what is so electrifying about what’s happening right here in Pittsburgh and throughout the 16 Remake Learning Days regions.”

The work highlighted on October 13 “reminds us that for all of our advances and technological marvels, it’s relationships that nurture children’s wonder,” Behr says. “And perhaps most importantly for the world’s learners, each innovation points the way toward large-scale change — toward a better future that’s within our collective grasp.”

Chris Petrie, head of research at HundrED, hopes that the innovations featured in the report “not only invigorate but galvanize action, perhaps even to adopt and adapt some innovations to your context. We envision that learning in this way will help further our mission at HundrED to help every child flourish in life, no matter what happens.”

In spring 2020, the PDC teamed up with the Bethesda-based KID Museum to co-lead a regional DMV festival as part of the national Remake Learning Days Across America initiative. Due to the pandemic, that festival had to be postponed, but, to make up for it, this year’s festival will be a year-long celebration of learning innovation across the country and in our region. There will be a regional launch event on January 26, 2021, and the main festival will take place May 8-May 22, 2021.