PUTTING ED TECH TO WORK FOR ED REFORM
CER and Paragon One partner to offer virtual externships
A start-up edtech firm which provides intern support virtually is coming to education reform. The Center for Education Reform (CER) has teamed up with Paragon One, which provides remote externships (like internships but more accessible and flexible) to empower students to build real work experience and develop valuable work skills, supported by training and mentorship. Paragon One works with many students from underserved backgrounds who face disproportionate challenges in education-to-career mobility. In addition, as students have found summer internships cancelled and institutions migrating toward remote learning and remote work, demand for virtual opportunities has grown.
“As supporters of innovation and opportunity in education, particularly to underserved groups, we are excited to partner with Paragon One on this unique opportunity for students to develop skills and support our mission without having to come to Washington, DC.,” said Jeanne Allen, CER founder and CEO.
The program works as follows: Paragon One recruits, trains and supports the students in their work to achieve the agreed-upon externship deliverables while partners define the projects and desired outcomes.
Matt Wilkerson, CEO of Paragon One, is an alumnus of the StartEd Hyperaccelerator which provides education innovators with the connections, capital, and customers that help founders solve the biggest problems in education.
“There’s no question that StartEd was valuable to Paragon One’s start and we look forward to learning from one another,” said Wilkerson.
CER, with the support of StartEd, will bring edtech global through the The U.S.-Italia Ed Innovation Festival, the first of its kind in Italy to connect the vast array of Italian ed tech, education innovation and learning institutions with similar sectors in the US to expand and explore how a new synergy and effort can create exponential impact in advancing learning, work and knowledge at all levels.
To learn more about Paragon One externships go to https://www.paragonone.com/
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Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.