In the spring of 2020, while we were working, teaching and leading from home, I (Ryan) had the opportunity to move into the principal role at Wayzata West Middle School in nearby Wayzata, MN. Like every school across the country, the pandemic forced Wayzata staff out of their comfort zone. In that discomfort though emerged an opportunity to rethink instructional time. West built flexible time into the day and called it MyTime. Given their circumstances at the time West had some MyTime sessions that were in-person and others that were virtual. This change was a great starting point to look for and take on opportunities our current times presented. (Read more)

South View hosted over 150 educators between two different site visits in 2019-2020. Participants came to see personalized learning in action. They observed South View’s advisory, daily flex time, learning pathways, unit guides, and flexible learning spaces. They also got to hear learners explain how the choices they had in their learning developed self-confidence and a sense of ownership. After visiting classrooms, participants chose from a selection of breakout sessions on the structures South View put into place to personalize the learning. The site visits were energizing, inspiring, and demonstrated how schools could move towards a personalized learning model. Then the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, and everything changed for education. (Read more)

My senior year of high school was a big year for me: leadership roles in clubs, AP classes, two internships, and a spring musical. But despite those things, only one stressor truly haunted my mind: where I would go to school the following year. I attended Kettle Moraine School for Arts and Performance (KM Perform) for high school, a competency-based learning environment in Wales, WI, and I wanted a similar experience for college. Naturally, my laundry list of possible colleges included primarily small, private, liberal arts colleges. So it was a shock to all – myself included – when I chose the University of Wisconsin-Madison to continue my education. (Read more)

Learning is the key to staying professionally fresh, keeping our practice sharp, adjusting to changing conditions, and maintaining our professional confidence. It expands our perspective and feeds our curiosity. Learning can also stimulate new ideas and generate new insights. When we engage in learning that challenges us, we move beyond the limits of our natural talent. (Read more)

What are we preparing our learners to do? This is the question that educators, principals, parents and community members were constantly asking in our school district. Some stakeholders may say, “to answer questions on the big accountability test” while others would say “to prepare our learners for the future”. Out of frustration educators may even say, “Just tell us what we’re doing and we will do it, but don’t change it”. Our leadership team knew our vision, but we wanted everyone to know and understand that vision and for everyone to want it for our learners, too!  This was what started our journey toward developing the Powell County Schools Learner Profile, our vision for Powell County graduates. (Read more)

Pirate Academy was designed to provide students with a personalized, competency-based learning environment that empowers and equips students to become partners in the learning process. Each day, students in our program make decisions about their learning path and pace, have access to meaningful assessment that drives ongoing and personalized learning, and are supported in learning essential skills for success. Our team has worked for two years to take student-centered and mastery-based learning from theory to reality. Transitioning to this model has been a rewarding, albeit messy, adventure, and blogger Montie Syrie sums up our process perfectly —  “Do. Reflect. Do better.”  (Read more)