This entrepreneurial start-up unlocked the key to doing education well at home, providing to thousands of underserved families whose children lacked effective education during COVID affordable, relevant and engaging materials that made education come alive and connected to future life goals for kids.
About Rock by Rock
Founded by two accomplished educators, Rock by Rock seeks to provide entrepreneurial micro-school educational opportunities for families and teachers. Their north star is to ensure that all children will be better prepared for the post-pandemic world and beyond. These partners are urgently working to scale access to high-quality instruction and materials to a vast population of families across the socio-economic spectrum that have chosen a home learning environment as a better, safer solution for their family.
1.
What they did to Counter Covid’s Impact on Students
Responding to the nation’s most daunting challenge with alacrity, creativity and quality, the team at Rock by Rock – just 2 people – quickly changed their plans and business model to address the new challenges brought on by the pandemic, building a series of projects for grades K-5, including fourteen high-quality, real-world, at-home learning experiences
Jeffrey Imrich and Sung-Ae Yang
Co-Founders
“We are building a Netflix of project-based learning – an on-demand, affordable library of projects for kids and educators in any setting to empower kids to direct their own learning.”
Empowering kids to have the confidence, skills, agency that they need to shape their future and better our world.
2.
How they STOP-ped for Students
Produced 2 Years of Work in 5 Months
Despite supply chain challenges, Rock by Rock built and delivered its entire curriculum in 5 months rather than the 2 years that were envisioned, and identified families whose need was greatest during the pandemic.
Created 21st Century Technology Tools
Empowering kids to lead their own learning is the sole focus of Rock by Rock’s curriculum. They understand that students are not all motivated to complete worksheets or paper-based assignments. Rock by Rock designed beautiful and impactful interactive materials and projects for students, including a game board mission map, life habit activity cards, a literacy-rich magazine, a set of hands-on materials, and a take-action project booklet which gave students an opportunity to solve a real-world problem in their community.
Empowered and Supported Underserved Communities
They built partnerships with local organizations and took measures to ensure their unique learning experience was accessible to all, specifically working closely with the African American homeschool network “Engaged Detroit,” whose families were enduring significant challenges and new to homeschooling. Rock by Rock provided them with both affordable and free tools for effective at-home learning that made it quick and easy for any parents to understand the content and know how to engage with their kids in the learning process.
3.
And if they win the $1 million Prize?
Winning the STOP Award would put Rock by Rock squarely on track to reach one million students by 2025 through the creation of a Netflix-like library for project-based learning. Their vision is that any educator or student in grades K-5 would be able to access these game-changing learning experiences. Coupled with off-line, hands-on activities, these tools will help students learn in non-traditional school settings. The EdTech company also seeks to build out on-demand training to support novice educators in implementing and innovating on their platform in traditional school settings, equipping students with real and relevant learning experiences that prepare kids to be the next generation of change makers.
