A team of educators from The Baldwin School was recently selected to participate in the USC CANDLE Innovation Lab: Summer 2026 Design Sprint, held from July 20 - 24 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. This intensive five-day professional learning experience brought together middle and high school educator teams to translate cutting-edge research on adolescent development and the science of learning into practical classroom innovations.

 

The Baldwin team included English Teacher Dr. Erika Jo Brown, Director of Academic Support and Enrichment Pia Awal-Beirne, History Teacher Dr. Jordan McCarter, and Associate Head of School Rebecca Brady. Throughout the week, the team collaborated directly with researchers and facilitators to refine instructional work grounded in developmental science. The goal of the sprint was to produce actionable designs ready for implementation in the 2026–27 school year.

 

The program, hosted by the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE), explored critical implications for student motivation, engagement, belonging, and deep learning. Participating educators had the opportunity to connect with leading researchers to better understand how adolescents truly think, feel, and grow.

 

Reflecting on the experience, Associate Head of School Rebecca Brady noted, “It was fascinating to learn the cutting-edge research about what is happening in the brain when students engage in deep meaning making, why relationships are so central to the learning process, and what the findings suggest about how we can design learning experiences at Baldwin.”