The Education Leadership Program is collaborating with Fairfax County Public Schools to help prepare the next generation of school leaders in a manner that is timely for the district. In the Accelerated Certification Cohort (ACC), Education Leadership faculty have co-constructed the curriculum and share in the instructional process. On another level, faculty collaborate in team planning and team teaching, marrying various areas of expertise to form coherent leadership development that combines theory and practical application. In addition, they teach students how to collaborate and encourage them to practice collaborative leadership in role-playing scenarios.

The Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning Program embodies innovation by showing teachers how to innovate in their own schools. One of the fundamental principles of the course Educational Change (EDUC 615) is that the solutions to instructional problems are often within the reach of the teachers if only they had the skills. One of those skills is knowing how to get the materials needed to enhance the curriculum supported by the school. Teachers in the course prepare a grant proposal to a foundation or corporation for funding a project in their classes that is usually designed to narrow the achievement gap. The teachers learn the art and science of identifying a need, preparing a research-based justification, outlining a scope of activities to address the need, and writing a proposal as required by the funding agency. With each passing semester, more teachers are gaining funds to achieve innovative goals such as improving literacy, engaging parents in their children's education, building in-class libraries of readily available and age-appropriate instructional materials, and enhancing instruction through the use of technology such as smartboards. In this way, ASTL not only is innovating, but also is instructing teachers (many of whom are early in their careers) in how to innovate. Innovation, as captured by learning the grant-writing process, becomes a lifelong skill for these teachers.

The Career Switcher Program takes a leadership role in securing top quality teachers in critical needs teaching areas. This collaborative project with the Commonwealth of Virginia addresses the teacher shortage by attracting well-educated individuals to a second career in teaching. George Mason is one of nine universities that offer versions of the program.

CEHD’s Center for Restructuring Education in Science and Technology (CREST) sponsors a summer day-camp that offers science exploration for students entering grades 5, 6, and 7. Innovative sessions include topics such as archeology, crime-solving, and weather forecasting.

The Elementary Education Program models an innovative approach to teacher preparation. The Professional Development School (PDS) program provides an entire year of internship for students and during that year they become part of the school. They are able to do scaffolded substitute teaching and gain experience in every aspect of being a teacher. At the same time, university faculty members (tenure track faculty) spend one full day each week in their designated school, also becoming part of the school culture. [This practice is innovative because faculty members are given one course release per semester to be able to do this intense participation.]

The Instructional Technology Program is a partner in the Hoop Magic Foundation, funded by the Northrop Grumman Corporation. The Hoop Magic program uses video-game technology with sports themes to improve student motivation and achievement in science and math.

KIDLAB (Krasnow Investigation of Development Learning and Behavior), a joint project with the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, is innovating ways to make the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) environment and experimentation more closely mimic learning environments and learning processes that occur in the real world. Research efforts are focused on investigating the cognitive neuro science of reasoning and attention processes. All of KIDLAB's practices are research-based and seek to provide interdisciplinary connections that will benefit health, medicine, and education.

At the undergraduate level, the Literacy Program collaborates with Mason’s New Century College to offer a program in which undergraduates provide 45 hours of service to local school children in the area of literacy. Each term, approximately 25 students in the Literacy and Curriculum Integration for Specialist Teachers course (EDRD 300) are linked with reading educators in local schools. Students, many of whom are considering applying to graduate programs in education, learn effective tutoring methods for diverse populations. Teachers in the schools report that these students provide extremely helpful assistance in classrooms, as well as one-on-one support for children.

CEHD has partnered with Frederick, Loudoun, and Stafford County Public Schools to develop the Virtual High School Collaborative. Twenty-five high school teachers, supported by their school divisions and George Mason, work within the framework of advanced graduate study to create web-based instructional materials. The program’s Online Academy enables high school students to meet their educational goals through online courses that reflect the content areas of Virginia’s Standards of Learning, school divisions’ curriculum guidelines, and relevant text-based materials. The project recently received the Governor's Technology Award in the category of “Innovation in K–12 Education,” which recognizes the innovative use of technology to provide improved service delivery to Virginia’s high school students.

Faculty in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism (RHT) are using VideoRay’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) as an educational tool for young people and adults to explore underwater environments. Specifically, faculty use the ROV—which has the capability to reach depths of 500 feet underwater—to allow people to engage with marine environments. Users observe aquatic life, view marine habitats, and explore archaeological sites such as shipwrecks. Participants in educational and recreational programs are given the opportunity to operate the ROV or observe the ROV being operated at a variety of lake, ocean, and river levels, while having real-time discussion with environmental educational facilitators. Over the past few years, RHT faculty also have been systematically gathering data regarding the perceptions of the people using the ROV. The results from these studies have been shared in a variety of academic conferences, as well as practitioner settings.

The College of Education and Human Development participates in the Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Weightless Flights of Discovery, which allows math and science teachers to experience weightlessness and conduct science experiments. The project examines the potential that space exploration can play in children’s math and science achievement and motivation.