Announcing the 2024-25 LSX Focus Fellows

Today New America is pleased to announce the fourth cohort of the Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX), a problem-solving platform that brings mid-career professionals together to generate new ideas for tackling tough issues in education.

The LSX approach aims to break down silos among the fields of education leadership, entertainment, journalism, social-impact entrepreneurship, and research in the science of learning. Collaboration across these sectors unleashes creative ideas to support children’s learning from ages 2 to 12.

This year’s fellows are helping to kick off a new phase of the LSX program, bringing their expertise to solve problems in focus areas identified by partners within a specific region or with need for breakthroughs on a specific topic. With support from the Grable Foundation, the first cohort in this new phase will work as a team (crowdsourcing ideas from tech and media perspectives, developing ideas for outreach to diverse families, and more) to support parents as true partners in schools and their children’s learning. The intent is to design new approaches for supporting and sustaining the growing Parents as Allies program in schools across southwestern Pennsylvania.

The 2024-25 LSX Focus Fellows are:

• Susana Beltran-Grimm, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Portland State University
• Tara Garcia Mathewson, Technology and Education Reporter, The Markup
• Tabitha Marino, Assistant to the Superintendent, New Castle Area School District, Pennsylvania
• Scott Miller, Principal, Avonworth Primary Center, Avonworth School District, Pennsylvania
• Miroslava Rodriguez, Cofounder and Chief Technology Officer, Erandi Aprende, Mexico and U.S.
• Erica Slobodnik, Principal, K-8, Duquesne City School District, Pennsylvania
• Sheila Thomas, Author, Speaker, Parent Coach, and Literacy Advocate in Georgia

The fellows will be announced at the LSX Summit, a New America biennial event hosted in-person and streamed online that runs from 9 am to 4 pm ET today, September 18.

The theme of this year’s summit is “Seeing and Solving Through Multiple Lenses: New Ways to Transform Education.” A panel discussion at the event will delve into the opportunities and challenges of the Parents as Allies program and what it takes to make family engagement programs really work. The summit will also feature the culmination of work of three previous LSX fellow cohorts that are just completing their fellowship, featuring topics on building belonging in middle schoolers, sparking joy to support learning in caregivers and their young children, and developing games with migrant children to highlight the assets they bring to new communities. Of note, the summit will also highlight other complex topics that could benefit from the LSX design approach, such as creating next-generation assessments that are meaningful and learning how to use “co-design” methods in education research and development.

Leaders of the LSX program are actively seeking additional partners to recruit cohorts of fellows in 2025 and 2026 to tackle new challenges and continue to build a talent pool for cross-sector collaboration. Are you working to solve a complex program in education that could benefit from cross-sector collaboration? We invite organizations, foundations, and individuals passionate about tackling pressing challenges in education to join us.

To explore partnership opportunities, learn more about the LSX program, or view examples of prototypes and projects from previous cohorts, please visit newamerica.org/lsx.