The ISI Living Classroom Vision

The Living Classroom project seeks to offer children unique, differentiated learning experiences that reflect their specific needs – and to do so with the affordability and ease of use that brings premiere teaching within the reach of every American student. Its goal: to provide teachers with the comprehensive, integrated information they need to customize each child’s experiences readily every school day.

Effective, Practical Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated, optimized learning clearly is vital to re-invigorating K-12 education. Yet such instruction often is financially infeasible and pragmatically unworkable even for the most motivated teachers, schools and districts. The Living Classroom will bring teachers the factual knowledge and data-driven insights, integrated with technology-based learning tools, to enable them to monitor students’ progress in realtime from any location – with a model designed to scale district- and state-wide.

USC and LAUSD

A collaboration between academic and real-world experts in education and computer science, the project is led by researchers at the University of Southern California’s (USC’s) Information Sciences Institute, one of the nation’s largest and most successful software and hardware research entities. Significantly, the Los Angeles Unified School District – one of the largest and most ethnically diverse in the U.S. – is eager to host a multi-campus pilot project to explore the Living Classroom’s potential.

Academia and Industry Working Together

The Living Classroom is supported by a consortium of prominent technology and education businesses that have pledged partial matching funds, including Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Intel Corporation, Pearson Education, Inc. and Promethean Ltd. We also have received commitments for active participation from some of the nation’s leading K-12 education voices, including Thomas W. Payzant, former Boston Public Schools Superintendent and US Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education under President Clinton.

By marrying rich data resources with computing and educational expertise, the Living Classroom will deliver on that most human goal: more fulfilled, better-achieving kids.

Driving Achievement

The need to have accessible, always-available, and meaningful data to drive decisions is essential to increasing student achievement.

-- Themistocles Sparangis, Ed.D., Chief Technology Director, LAUSD

Key Innovations

Break down data silos – Assessment data exists, but need to integrate data from all systems.

Make all data available immediately, from instant clicker responses to yearly CST scores.

Leverage existing student learning activities, such as ITS, which double to provide formative assessments.

Automate and simplify data analysis and visualization, so teachers can easily understand and act on student data.

Make differentiated instruction practical and effective, effortlessly linking students to the best-suited instruction.