A new partnership between the CERES Institute for Children and Youth at BU Wheelock, the Boston Debate League (BDL), and the Henderson Inclusion School in Boston received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

This is one of nine grants announced by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative this week for teams of educators and researchers working together to improve school practices by applying the science of learning and development.

The partnership will improve and codify the BDL’s Debate-Inspired Classrooms program. BDL will work with researchers from the CERES Institute, including Jonathan F. Zaff, and the Henderson Inclusion School to develop usable, practical, vetted tools that help foster a research-based continuous learning model for teachers, schools and the BDL itself.

“Research indicated that students learn better when they talk more—and with each other—in the classroom,” says BDL Executive Director Mike Wasserman. “This funding will allow us to examine and refine our instructional coaching model and make data-driven improvements that evolve the approach’s focus on student outcomes.”

The partners will document and analyze how coaching and professional development practices connect with growth in teacher instruction, and how that growth connects with changes in student experience and learning. They’ll also analyze implications and next steps of their work for three to five years beyond the end of their funding period.

Building on this partnership, BU Wheelock staff and faculty volunteered at a BDL tournament, held in December at the McCormack Middle School in Dorchester. Faculty and staff helped administer and judge the tournament, the theme of which was “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States.”