Editor’s Note: Tiffany Taylor is partner and co-president at ASU+GSV Summit and partner at GSV Ventures, dedicated to promoting innovation, justice and opportunity for education and workforce development.
GSV is a global platform that supports and invests in education and workforce for skills skills in the workforce. In our core we are investors, plugs and gathering. And we do just that with our Google GSV Education Innovation Fellowship, a program that delivers K-12 superintendents, head of academic officers and top-level teaching leaders with learning and mentorship options. This is how the program started – and a look at what our fellows are working on now.
It all started with a simple question. In 2021, Deborah Quazzo, CEO of GSV Ventures and co-founder of the ASU+GSV summit, asked a question that I haven’t stopped thinking about the page: “What does GSV look like to really invest in innovative education leaders? “I wrote that question on a sticky note and placed it on my screen where it still sits today.
Deborah also invited me to participate in a call with Jennie Magiera, Google’s global head of education. When Jennie and I shared the ways in which each of our organizations grew and developed educational leaders, we had an idea: We could bring together Chief Caemberic Officers and Superintendents to dream, strategize and intervene in the intersection of technology and instruction.
Google GSV Education Innovation Fellowship, which started in 2023, gives scholarships the chance to explore new technologies, refine leadership skills through performing coaching and collaboration on projects that drive real, sustainable changes. Fellows was selected through a process that included a written application and a telephone interview with Google about education and GSV team members. We collaborated with other organizations to help education leaders develop a district -wide initiative or “transformation opportunity.”
Fellows led over 45 initiatives that focused on everything from building teacher capacity with AI to improving teaching, improving students’ feedback and preparing for the future. This included Learnkit.ai, a district-wide AI solution to equip leaders with action insights and the level up Lynwood project aimed at revolutionizing Lynwood Unified School District training by expanding access to large language models and generative AI. Insights and resources from Kohort 1 can be found in a thematically curated digital lookbook. Lookbook for the other cohort will be available for viewing in April 2025.
A single question and a shared commitment led us to the place where we are today: 50 leaders, 50 districts and over 3.5 million students affected. Together we do not just imagine the future of education – we build it. Educational leaders can apply for Kohort 3 in April 2025.