Two out of Three Students Surveyed in Burnet CISD Believe New Classrooms Benefitted Their Learning; 94 Percent Felt Collaboration Made Easier

Gainesville, FL, June 26, 2017 – Burnet Consolidated Independent School District in Burnet, Texas is seeing a leap in student engagement after its successful installation of new transformational learning spaces with the help of leading educational services partner MeTEOR Education. In the fall of 2016, the district began piloting the Inspired Classroom project, which uses an infusion of technology, high-impact classroom furniture and teachers’ creativity to create classrooms that look, feel and operate differently than traditional models. The pilot was made possible through a donation provided by the Franklin I Fickett Foundation.

The project began with a meeting with pilot participants in September 2016, to share ideas and lesson plans that would take advantage of the new furniture and technology offerings. The furniture was installed in October 2016, and from November through February 2017, two more meetings for sharing ideas, needs, and experiences were held. Technology training took place in December 2016.

Prior to the implementation of the Inspired Classroom spaces, students in the pilot classrooms took a 10-question survey concerning the furniture in their classroom, 43 percent of all students surveyed felt that the classroom furniture had no impact on how they learned. After using the new furniture for three months, students took the same survey again. Now, 88 percent felt that the furniture helped them learn. In fact, two out of three students felt the furniture had a significant beneficial impact on their learning.

“This project challenged our traditional ‘sit and get’ model of student learning,” said Keith McBurnett, the superintendent for Burnet CISD. “And I honestly never thought I would see these kind of results. The technology and flexible furniture configurations provided new exciting ways for students to learn, increased collaboration and helped us build and strengthen other 21st Century skills.”

Another major area of change was cooperative learning. Prior to the high-impact learning environment installations, only 25 percent of the students felt that classroom furniture made it easy to work with their classmates. Afterward, an astounding 94 percent felt that the furniture made collaboration easier, with more than half (55 percent) feeling that the furniture made it very easy to collaborate. In fact, students are now working with each other 60 percent of the time.

The furniture, technology and training not only impacted the students, but it also changed the instructional methods of Burnet teachers.

Survey results from teachers indicated that the new furniture has been a catalyst for thinking outside the box and making lesson plans more collaborative. Additionally, the flexible configurations have helped remove barriers for teaching, allowing students to re-orient themselves to different views of the room as needed and encouraging teachers to move around and be more involved.

“All in all, the learning culture and student learning experiences in these pilot classrooms have been supercharged because of the supportive new environments,” said Bill Latham, CEO of MeTEOR. “We continue to see the use of a holistic integration of methods, tools, and these kinds of microenvironments lead to positive relationships and more humanized learning experience. We are immensely pleased to see these survey results and it’s why MeTEOR Education exists — to help learning communities deliver the best possible experience to students.”

About MeTEOR Education:

MeTEOR Education is a leading educational services partner working with education professionals to help them create High-impact Learning Experiences™. As one of the largest providers of learning spaces, including furnishings and interior design services, MeTEOR’s focus is the integration of best practices for teaching and learning to drive inquiry-based instruction, effective use of modern classrooms, and increased student achievement. To learn more visit https://meteoreducation.com.

Media Contact:

Charlotte Andrist

Nickel Communications PR

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