About Us

Executive Summary of Project:

Project Stretch was developed 10 years ago as a response to the findings of the Stanton/Heiskell Center’s Project Tell, a participatory research study to explore how to help underserved students achieve and remain in school. The seven year longitudinal study placed computers in the homes and classrooms of students in five NYC middle schools who were reading at the 25-50% percentile in the fifth grade. Sixty percent of the students were admitted to college. This result demonstrated that computers can be an educational resource, a supplement to the classroom, if supported by effective teaching. Stretch expanded upon Project Tell by focusing on the teaching/learning in the classroom and the professional development of the teachers.

Our objective is to help teachers become competent in using new information and communication technologies in order to develop newer and more socially relevant practices that bring the world to the classroom. The program’s implementation of the open source Moodle software expanded this intervention. Project Stretch became a virtual online dynamic learning environment, namely the Stretchmoodle. This environment allows for expansion of the classroom, collaboration among teachers and students, and the use of multi-media literacy practices, as well as the instantaneous documentation of teacher and student interactions and work. The Moodle, as well as other “Web 2.0” tools, require different competencies, as they redefine the role of the user. Therefore, a goal of the program is to support teachers by developing a collaborative “peer-to-peer” education model in each school so that teachers can more readily work together.

Over the past 9 years, Project Stretch has grown from one computer lab serving approximately 40 students to a dynamic community of teachers, administrators and students numbering over 5,000. The Stretch program can be adapted by any grade or subject area because it provides the strategy, theory and process for effective teaching. Our strategies include developing collaborative electronic literacy projects in the Stretchmoodle, documenting, analyzing and reflecting on the progress of teachers and students using a constructivist approach, and fostering online and face-to-face discussions about education, technology and literacy.


Staff

Helen Birenbaum, founder and Executive Director of the Stanton/Heiskell Center is the Project Director of Stretch.

The Project Stretch staff consists of a diverse team of doctoral students at the CUNY Graduate Center, studying in programs that include Urban Education, English, Developmental and Environmental Psychology, Music, Computer Science, Political Science and Sociology. All are interested in and passionate about literacy, education and technology.

By connecting technology, pedagogy, and staff development, Stretch delivers new ways to help students meet mandated academic standards.