Academy for Educational Development

AED is conducting a mixed-method evaluation of two Cloud Institute programs that seek to inspire young people and their teachers to think about the present and the future world in sustainable terms. The "Inventing the Future" curriculum seeks to inspire hope in children by improving students’ critical thinking skills, including their ability to read and write critically with an awareness of multiple perspectives, and changing their relationship to their community and their sense of efficacy in bringing about change. The BEE 21 program, as it becomes integrated into business education courses, offers students a way to understand the concept of sustainability and its application in business practices. Presently, these two programs are implemented in 100 public high schools in New York City. The AED evaluation is addressing issues such as the school and individual factors that are effective in implementing the curriculum; which skills teachers acquire through professional development; whether additional supports are necessary to improve delivery of the curriculum; how barriers might be overcome; the ways in which teachers use the programs; the outcomes of the programs; and the strategies needed to expand the use of these programs within New York and elsewhere.