transformation

Conflict: A Predictable Companion of Social Change

bell curve graphic of conflict cycle
by Jim Rickabaugh, Senior Advisor In our excitement and enthusiasm for creating better learning experiences and a more effective educational system for young people we can ignore a predictable, but uncomfortable truth: Rarely does significant change in social processes, norms, and systems happen without conflict. Even when the benefits are clearly significant and documentable, resistance is nearl...
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Guest Post: Educators Can Shape the Future Now

Educators Can Shape the Future Now
by Katherine Prince, Vice President, Strategic Foresight, KnowledgeWorks Personalized learning is a powerful tool for change. Among its many benefits, personalized learning improves educational equity by reorienting learning around young people’s needs, interests, and goals. It also positions today’s education systems to respond to future needs. Those needs will be many. Changes brought on by te...
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Time for a Look Back

Image depicting looking back
Progress on Five Key Principles for a New Learning Ecosystem by Jim Rickabaugh, Director As we approach the sixth anniversary of the Institute for Personalized Learning and our personalized learning transformation work, it seems like a good time to pause and reflect on some key areas of progress. The work is by no means finished, but much has been accomplished and deserves recognition and cele...
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What Learners Think About Agency

It’s hard to believe, but our six-part collaborative blog series with Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey on Learner Agency is nearing an end! For this last post, we all felt it was crucial to get perspectives on learner agency from learners themselves. We asked some middle and high school students from our member districts to reflect on what learner agency means to them and answer a few questions...
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We have to stop pretending challenge

Here is our addition to the Scott McLeod challenge. When it comes to education, we have to stop pretending... That our current educational system has the capacity to meet the needs of all learners That we are adequately preparing our children for the future they will experience That a high-stakes, “moment in time” test is a worthy indication of what a student has actually learned ...
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