Deeper Learning 2023

We need to get more high-quality projects into the hands of more teachers and students. To do this, PBLWorks is embarking on an exciting new journey to develop PBL curriculum through its new division PBLNow! Join Ari Dolid (Director of Curriculum Design) and Stanley Richards (Director of Curriculum-Based Professional Learning) as they share core questions they’re encountering in their collaborative work to develop curriculum and professional learning.  Join in on this interactive dialogue to discuss how professional learning and high-quality instructional materials can keep equity at the center and provide authentic learning experiences for all students (and teachers!).

Ari Dolid is the Director of Curriculum Design for PBLNow, a new division of the Buck Institute of Education (dba PBLWorks).  In this role, he directs the development of K-12 project based units that will enable teachers to effectively customize and facilitate discipline-based projects focused on social, racial and environmental justice themes.  Previously, Ari was an instructional coach in the San Leandro Unified School District, where he coordinated the project-based learning initiative throughout the school district, and directed the development of a localized and humanizing K-5 history & social studies curriculum.  Ari is an English Language Arts teacher of 14 years, co-founder of the Social Justice Academy at San Leandro High School, and a teacher-consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project.  He has presented at the California Association for Teachers of English Conference, the Teaching 4 Social Justice Conference, the Puente Conference, the 4T Conference for Digital Writing, and the American Educational Research Association.  Ari received his BA in Psychology from Columbia University, his MA in the Teaching of English from Columbia University Teachers College, and his doctorate in education at Cal State East Bay.  Ari lives in Oakland, California with his partner and two children.


Stanley Richards is the Director of Curriculum-Based Professional Learning at PBLWorks.
Stanley joined PBLWorks as the program manager for an ongoing partnership between Buck Institute for Education and Lucas Education Research (LER) to study the effectiveness of PBL within a high stakes AP environment. He supported the professional development and coaching of teachers to implement AP Environmental Science and AP Government curricula in school districts all over the country. Currently, Stanley collaborates with PBLNow (a new division of PBLWorks) to develop the professional learning structures and support that will enable teachers to facilitate discipline-based projects (developed by PBLNow) focused on social, racial and environmental justice themes.
Previous to his work at PBLWorks, Stanley implemented PBL practices as a high school science teacher and instructional coach at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center in Estes Park, Colorado, and City Arts and Technology High School, a small urban high school in San Francisco, where he was a founding teacher. 
Stanley has a BS in Environmental Science (with a focus on biology and chemistry) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his free time, he likes to hunt for vinyl records and DJ in the Los Angeles area (where he now resides).