Next Learning, LLC



Why Next Learning?



Can learning, of all things and at all times, be painless, even joyful?

Can academic subject matter be a means to keep us in touch with our inherent brilliance?

Can teaching always be guided by learning?


Yes, yes and yes.


Next Learning helps make it happen through our consultancy and our unique learning apps.



Our Singular Approach:
The Subordination of Teaching to Learning



In the mid 20th century, Dr. Caleb Gattegno, an incredibly innovative mathematician, scientist and philosopher, created a pedagogical approach called the Subordination of Teaching to Learning (SubTLe). It established a way to support learning that aligns with the copious intellectual powers exercised by virtually every baby and toddler, powers that, for most of us, sadly tend to diminish over time.


Eschewing a reliance on memory, per se, as the mental functioning on which to base academic curriculum, SubTLe actually leverages content, through meticulously designed materials, activities and techniques, to keep learners in touch with their innate capacity to tackle, in stride and with vigor and joy, subject matter that otherwise may have seemed intimidating or of little interest.


Everything we do and create at Next Learning is inspired by and often directly derives from Dr. Gattegno's contribution to the improvement of education.



Consulting



Next Learning, LLC provides educational leaders, teachers and other instructional providers, including parents, with everything they need to ensure that their teaching is guided, at all times and moment-to-moment, by their students’ learning.

Through on-site and remote support, Next Learning offers engaging, hands-on seminars, demonstration lessons and co-teaching opportunities that exemplify and clarify the principles and practices at the heart of the Subordination of Teaching to Learning.


We are also available for a wide variety of special projects, including, for example:

  • recruiting and retaining instructional staff
  • analyzing and improving organizational culture, efficiency and effectiveness
  • creating a charter or private school
  • hiring the right leaders


Click here to learn more about the Subordination of Teaching to Learning.


Learning Apps



We do not learn differently from the past. What differs, at least to a significant extent, is the array of media through which we accomplish our learning.


People generally expect such media to hold entertainment value, in order to render the learning process more palatable. That rendering is sought because the underlying, persistent notions of how people learn mostly remain rooted in a “transmission of knowledge” model, which typically relies on remembering what a teacher says or shows you how to do.


Our approach is very different. The three learning apps we have created adhere to a "construction of knowledge" model, which accommodates the fact that humans only learn what they teach themselves. All three apps uniquely provide learners with digital experiences that mirror the SubTLe approach, by engaging them in "learning by doing."


Click here for descriptions of iReadBetter, iSpellBetter and iCountBetter.


Serving learning


Phone number: (845) 664-4545
Email: nextlearningllc@gmail.com

Meet Next Learning's Founder and President



After many years in public education, as a teacher (elementary through college), a principal and a school district superintendent, Dr. Theodore (Ted) Swartz was the lead applicant and founder of the Bronx Charter School for Better Learning (BBL), one of NY state's highest achieving independent, public charter schools, with average, pre-pandemic, ELA and math scores that exceeded those of all comparison groups, including all of NYC schools, all of NYC charter schools and all of New York State public schools, including the state's group of wealthiest districts.


Dr. Swartz was a member of BBL's Board of Trustees and a 1st grade teacher during the school’s first two years of operation. He subsequently served as its Executive Director for three years and then, until his retirement in June 2022, as the Director of Professional Development, during which time BBL spawned its second, similarly high performing charter school. (Click here for a video about BBL and its implementation of the Subordination of Teaching to Learning.)


Just prior to his involvement with Bronx Better Learning, he was the Superintendent and Principal of a one-school, 400 student, K-8 district in Sussex County, New Jersey. Under Dr. Swartz's leadership, the district established a strong track record of academic success, including its achieving the distinction of being the school, among 21 in the county, with the highest percentage of students meeting state standards in all sections tested, on both the fourth grade and the eighth grade statewide assessments.


Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Swartz has created and designed three unique learning apps: iSpellBetter, iReadBetter and iCountBetter, the latter of which was co-designed with Dr. Arthur Powell, a professor at Rutgers University, Newark. All three apps, currently available for free on Apple's app store, provide learners with digital experiences that mirror the SubTLe approach, without reliance on teachers who ordinarily take considerable time to master its implementation. Teachers, of course, remain critical in countless ways, and Next Learning provides a full range of professional development services to support their use of the apps and their capacity to implement SubTLe more generally.


Dr. Swartz earned his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Special Education, from New York University.


Contact Dr. Swartz at nextlearningllc@gmail.com

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