Education Elements Leaders Newsletter
            
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For Leaders, By Leaders Issue 2017-1

Published just four times a year, this newsletter was created by personalized learning leaders for personalized learning leaders. In this issue learn from a district superintendent, an author and a leadership advisor. Enjoy!

 

It's Time to Personalize Learning in Alaska

By Dr. Karen Gaborik, Superintendent of Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, AK

Personalize Learning in Alaska

In the middle of January, with little daylight and plenty of snow, we began the process of bringing together the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District community to learn about personalized learning.

With a week of workshops, board sessions and community nights behind us, we realized that over the course of a few days we significantly moved forward work that would impact our 14,000 students for the rest of their lives.

When the school board developed their strategic plan in February 2015, they wanted to make changes to the district’s approach to teaching and learning as part of their commitment to providing an excellent and equitable education to students, and to prepare them to succeed and contribute in positive ways to a global society. Read more. 


 

The Impact of Betsy DeVos: A Q&A with Michael Horn

By Michael B. Horn, Co-author of Blended and Disrupting Class and Board Member of Education Elements

Betsy DeVos Q&A with Michael Horn

Ed Elements: Betsy DeVos’s confirmation process was one of the toughest anyone can remember. What do you think made people so passionate about her nomination?

Michael Horn: The toughest ever certainly for an education secretary. I think there were three things in particular that made people so passionate. First, to understate it, there is obviously a lot of passion around Trump’s election with many who did not support him opposed virulently and reflexively to anyone he would nominate and determined to see at least one of his picks for Cabinet “go down”, so to speak. Second, despite DeVos’s long-time involvement in education and a deeper and more mainstream track record than has been portrayed by the mainstream media, no matter how you slice it, her hearing did not go well. It revealed some significant apparent blind spots in her awareness of some of the questions swirling around education and the federal government and Department of Education’s role in particular. Read more.


 

The Pathway to Superintendency

By James Guerra, Owner and Founder of JG Consulting

Pathway to Superintendency.jpg

Aspiring superintendents face a difficult but worthwhile challenge to lead a school district. All school districts, for better or worse, are the subject to immeasurable scrutiny from internal and external stakeholders. More times than not the scrutiny comes in different forms and through various outlets- editorials, social media, TV, etc. It is important for any aspiring superintendent to remain grounded with these circumstances in mind. We all agree that serving as a superintendent is a tremendous honor and privilege. The following “tips” are simply designed to supplement your preparation for the superintendency… Read more.

 


Check out past issues of the PL Leaders newsletter

We hope you have found these articles valuable and informative. Please take a look at past articles from Personalized Learning: For Leaders, By Leaders for more insights from personalized learning thought leaders.

Because we all like to stay on top of things...

Personalized Learning: For Leaders, By Leaders is published just once per quarter, but you might like to keep learning about personalized learning in between issues. Our weekly blog includes articles written by our team, district leaders, teachers, and experts in the field on topics related to personalized learning, closing the achievement gap, and the edtech landscape. Subscribe now to be in the know.

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