Together, Education Elements, Microsoft, Fresno USD and Corcoran USD invite you to attend the National Academy for Personalized Learning in Fresno on December 12, 2019.
The National Academy for PL is a one-day event combining professional development, networking and optional school visits, designed for district leaders at all stages of their personalized learning implementation. For district leaders just starting their journey, the academy will help to set a bold vision and provide clarity on priorities. For district leaders who have been moving towards personalized learning for several years, the academy will help to provide guidance and inspiration around what to do next.
LEARNINGS:
- Develop strategies to help your team embrace and develop innovative leadership
- Understand how innovation translates into change for classrooms and schools
- Learn from Fresno USD’s and Corcoran USD’s journeys to provide more personalized learning experiences for their students, staff and community
- See Personalized Learning in action in Fresno USD classrooms (optional for participants)
- Access excellent personalized professional learning from two leading companies in personalized learning and technology in the classroom, Microsoft and Education Elements, and two leaning districts in putting the students at the center.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Participants will experience professional development for district leaders facilitated by experts that have guided national and local personalized learning implementations. Here are a few examples of what you can expect:
- Strategies for effective collaboration and planning
- A deeper knowledge of PL and instructional practices that support learners
- Building an understanding of collective identification, relationships, voice and choice
- Exemplars of instructional innovation for student and adult learners
- Design actions that focus on the needs of all learners
EVENT INFORMATION:
- This event is sponsored to make it available at no cost for district leadership teams. We encourage districts to attend in groups of 3 or more.
- School Visits 8 AM- 9:30 AM (optional -- meet at school)
- PL Academy: 10 AM - 2:30 PM
- PL Academy Location: Bitwise Hive Coworking Space, 700 Van Ness Avenue, Fresno CA
- Snacks and lunch will be provided
- What to bring? Participants should bring a device, charger, and headphones.
- Email info@edelements.com with questions
CONTEXT
Fresno Unified School District PL Journey
- To prepare their students for #AsYetImagined futures, Fresno USD developed the Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI) to foster student-centered learning in personalized and blended environments. PLI pedagogy is developed around high quality instruction with the intentional use of technology, effective infusion of collaboration, while authentically honoring and engaging student voice.
- With its inception in 2016, the PLI has expanded from supporting 220 individual teachers, to over 650 teachers at 28 (and counting!) parter school sites. To increase support, Fresno USD partnered with Education Elements and enhanced their professional learning process to develop internal expertise around the effective use of technology and instructional model design.
- Now in year 4, PLI classrooms exhibit greater student ownership, cultivate skills competency, and, on average, reveal higher use of digital resources for learning. PLI also resulted in statistically significant higher SBAC scores across multiple grade levels with increased proportionality across ethnic groups and students with special needs. Reports about PLI can be found here and here.
- Fresno USD teachers utilize Microsoft O365 + Teams to manage their classrooms and organize their PLCs, and the district uses the data provided from learning analytics models and partnerships to analyze the impact of the PLI on their schools.
Corcoran Unified School District PL Journey
- Corcoran Unified School District superintendent, Rich Merlo, first started thinking about personalized learning when he was one of just ten district leaders accepted into the first Lexington Education Leadership Award fellowship program in 2016 and participated in a six month intensive crash course
- Through this work, the district developed a bold vision and commitment to personalized learning: “We will partner with our students to own their learning, pursue their ambitions and achieve their goals” that guides the support the district provides and the strategies teachers use each day.
- The work has been paying off. In Corcoran classrooms today, you see elementary teachers deftly implementing flexible, flipped, and station rotation instructional models, all focused on providing students right-on-time support and ensuring that teachers and students build stronger relationships. At Corcoran High School, for example, students passing a state assessment have moved from 14% to 100% (on an alternative assessment that the students have to take if they did get proficient on the CAASPP) and students regularly report that their schools are populated with adults who care for them. John Muir Middle School has invested a significant amount of resources into developing a STEAM program that captures the interest of all who step foot on campus.
The NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR PL IN THE MEDIA
The National Academy of Personalized Learning was last hosted in Texas, in North Carolina, in South Carolina, and in Tennessee, and is delivered in regions that are nationally recognized for advancing instructional practices.
About Education Elements: Education Elements works with districts to build and support dynamic school systems that meet the needs of every learner, today and tomorrow. We take the time to understand the unique challenges school leaders face, and then customize the Education Elements approach for each district. We have worked with more than 950 schools and 200 districts across the country. We bring deep expertise, design thinking, expert facilitation and the spirit of collaboration, along with our extensive toolkit of resources and technology, to deliver sustainable results. Check out our latest annual report.
