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In order to realize the promise of innovative teaching models at the student level, school and district leaders must establish system-level conditions such as Essential Supports that allow educators to implement the design for students, Enabling Systems and Structures that lower barriers for implementation and accelerate uptake, and Ongoing Processes to align and improve. Learn more about our Innovative Learning Implementation Framework and explore strategies, advice, and tools below.

Framework graphic showing Conditions for Success and Scale; a three-part diagram with a student at the center, labeled "Teaching & Learning Model," surrounded by a large green circle split into 4 parts: Learning Materials & Tools, Community & Culture, Student Support Programming, and Professional Development & Learning. This is further surrounded by a thinner turquoise circle, split into several parts: Policies, Talent Systems, Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, Physical Environment, Time, Finance and Resourcing, Technology and Data Infrastructure, and Communications. The outermost circle is split into the following parts: Systems Visioning, Planning and Project Management, Continuous Improvement, Designing for Equity, and Change Management. The Conditions are as follows: innermost circle- Essential Supports, middle circle- Enabling Systems & Structures, outermost circle-Ongoing Processes.
Learning Materials & Tools
  • Core Curriculum
  • Supplemental Curriculum
  • Digital Curriculum
  • Assessments
  • Software Selection
  • Open Educational Resources
  • Digital Citizenship
Professional Development & Learning
  • Onboarding
  • Professional Development
  • Technology Training
  • Content Area Training
  • Pedagogy
Student Support Programming
  • Comprehensive Student Development
  • Social-Emotional Learning
  • Physical Health
  • Mental Health
  • Identity Development
Community & Culture
  • Student Culture
  • Staff Culture
  • Systems Building
  • Parent Engagement
  • Community Engagement

Select Practice Area

Visioning

All education system leaders face choices about how to lead change in a way that maximizes benefits to students. These choices include how to set a clear and coherent vision to guide change, as well as how to implement and scale those changes effectively. Leaders can work to tailor their approach to change to their own system and bring together stakeholders to develop and integrate a shared vision for the future.

Below, find strategies and resources for:

  • Strategy Development
  • Vision Development
  • Leadership Decisions
Teacher leans down and shakes child's hand, both smiling

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Technology & Data Infrastructure
  • Technology Infrastructure
  • Connectivity
  • Hardware
  • Procurement
  • Network Systems
  • Data Infrastructure
  • Data Interoperability
  • Data Privacy & Security
Finance & Resourcing
  • Budgets
  • Finance Modeling
Physical Environment
  • Flexible Classroom
  • Physical Layout
  • Safety
Talent Systems
  • Leadership Pipeline
  • Teacher Pipeline
  • Staffing Model
  • Human Resource Systems
Communications
  • Communications Planning
  • Public Relations
 Time
  • School Schedule
  • Structure of the Day
 Research, Measurement, & Evaluation
  • Pilot Structure
  • Program Evaluation
  • Research
  • Learning
  • Measurement
  • Dissemination
 Policies
  • State Policy
  • District Policy
  • School Policy
  • Data Privacy Policy

Select Practice Area

Visioning

All education system leaders face choices about how to lead change in a way that maximizes benefits to students. These choices include how to set a clear and coherent vision to guide change, as well as how to implement and scale those changes effectively. Leaders can work to tailor their approach to change to their own system and bring together stakeholders to develop and integrate a shared vision for the future.

Below, find strategies and resources for:

  • Strategy Development
  • Vision Development
  • Leadership Decisions
Teacher leans down and shakes child's hand, both smiling

See

0 strategy

0 strategies

below

Visioning
  • Strategy Development
  • Vision Development
  • Leadership Decisions
Planning & Project Management
  • Planning
  • Project Management
  • Implementation
Change Management
  • Leadership Development
  • Leadership Choices
 Continuous Improvement
  • Program Capture
  • Program Codification
Designing for Equity
  • Equity Framing & Focus
  • Co-Design with Stakeholders
  • Analysis & Reflection

Select Practice Area

Visioning

All education system leaders face choices about how to lead change in a way that maximizes benefits to students. These choices include how to set a clear and coherent vision to guide change, as well as how to implement and scale those changes effectively. Leaders can work to tailor their approach to change to their own system and bring together stakeholders to develop and integrate a shared vision for the future.

Below, find strategies and resources for:

  • Strategy Development
  • Vision Development
  • Leadership Decisions
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0 strategy

0 strategies

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    • Strategy Development
    • Vision Development
    • Leadership Decisions
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One person leads a discussion, holding paper in his hand and gesturing toward it with a pen while others look on

Activity: Reflect on Equity in Your Pilot

Take time to step back and ensure that your solution has the desired impact
Man works with young student, smiling at laptop, pencil in hand

Novi Community School District

Using Data to Advocate for Changes in Virtual and Hybrid Learning Models

Advocating for changes to virtual and hybrid learning models through data use
image of Using-Highest-Qualified-Staff-for-1-to-1-Support.png

Hopkins Public Schools

Using Highest-Qualified Staff for 1:1 Support

Leveraging paraprofessionals for multi-tiered systems of instructional support
Two students lean against lockers while working off of laptops

Locust Grove Middle School

Locust Grove Middle School’s Shift to Personalized Learning

Using data to determine how to improve teaching and learning
image of Identifying-Three-Focus-Priorities-to-Direct-Improvement-Efforts.png

Cedar Rapids Community School District

Identifying Three Focus Priorities to Direct Improvement Efforts

Concentrating central office efforts on highest impact levers
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Remote Learning: Planning for Improvement

Power Moves for Remote Learning
image of System-Level-Driving-Questions-Setting-an-Innovation-Focal-Point.png

System-Level Driving Questions: Setting an Innovation Focal Point

Leveraging a driving question to spark innovative teaching and learning practices
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Activity: Conduct Empathy Interviews with Stakeholders

Seek to understand the experiences of people in your district through personal interviews
Teacher sits on floor in classroom, chin in hand, as students around her talk

White Paper: Look Both Ways

A framework to help education leaders navigate through competing approaches to system-wide change
Screenshot of workspace with virtual sticky notes in various colored, layered atop one another. The visible sticky notes read: can teachers within subject areas do more cross-planning and instruction? Have at-home students collaborate for discussions together. Combine the “back-to-normal” with the “new curriculum” by having teachers collaborate on more project-based across content areas so that the courses aren’t siloed during this time. Co-Design future learning experiences with students to explore new ways of learning (and to build ownership). Can an assignment be envisioning a new normal? What do the students wish for?

Virtual Collaboration with Jamboard

Bringing sticky-note activities into the virtual world
Person sits at a table with others, taking notes in notebook, inside bright room

Activity: Identity Reflection Through Noticing

Notice the experiences, identities, and values that each person brings to a team
image of DefinePoP.png

Activity: Define a Problem of Practice

Translate feedback into a clear problem statement that your design team will address
Teacher sits, showing small poster board to students and gesturing toward it with a marker in hand

Pleasant View Elementary School

Pleasant View’s Journey to Blended Learning

How and Why Pleasant View Adopted Blended Learning
Student points at line on color-coded poster hanging up on the wall

Clearly Defining Definitions of “Tight” and “Loose”

Henry County’s breakdown of responsibility between the district and schools
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Monterey Peninsula Unified School District

Empathy Interviews and Co-Design Sessions

Integrating empathy interviews and student-teacher co-design sessions to inform systems change and program pilots
image of GetInspired.png

Activity: Get Inspired! Explore Innovative Schools

Explore districts and schools that are on the “leading edge” of equitable, resilient teaching and learning
A group of children are sitting around a table in a classroom.

Making Sense of Your Data Findings for Advocacy

Connecting your insights with actionable advocacy steps
Teacher stands in front of whiteboard, gesturing

Declaring a District Mandate

“When change on the inside is slower than change on the outside, the end is near.” (Dr. Lisa Williams)
Student smiles at adult, sitting near laptop, at desk

Gulfport Virtual Academy

Gulfport Virtual Academy's Approach to Teacher and Student Capacity

How a virtual school supported students learning asynchronously through new technologies and teaching practices
Photo of poster of Lifelong Learning Standards including Live, Love, Learn

Lindsay High School

Lifelong Learning Standards

Integrating non-cognitive standards into instruction to help Learners thrive as people
Three students, smiling, work together off of one laptop

Locust Grove Middle School

Designing Henry County’s Five Pillars for Personalized Learning

Creating five core tenets to help support schools’ efforts to personalize learning
Outdoor view of school building, with a yellow and black sign reading "Cisco Loboes" in the foreground, showing the school's mascot

Cisco Junior High School

Cisco ISD’s Redesign Process

Leveraging the Raising Blended Learners grant to accelerate the implementation of high-quality blended learning
Student raises his hand, looking forward, while sitting between other students

Locust Grove Middle School

District Support for Schools Shifting to Personalized Learning

Henry County Schools supports its personalized learning schools based on theory and resources
Three students collaborating on project at table, looking down at resources

Advice: Pick a framework for change management

Explore key frameworks for blended learning change management
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Meriden Public Schools

Single Sign-On for Multiple Digital Learning Platforms

Providing families with a single access point for multiple learning programs
image of LeveragingCommunity_strat.png

Leveraging Community Engagement to Solve Complex Problems

Step-by-step guidance to engaging the community in support of K-12 transformation
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Activity: Brainstorm Solutions and Refine Ideas

Ideate a range of potential solutions to your problem
image of District-Distance-Learning-Progression.png

Dallas Independent School District

District Distance Learning Progression

A progression that outlines key elements of an instructional model for distance learning
Students work on computers as teacher looks on behind them

Cisco Junior High School

Designing Cisco ISD's Student Experience Pillars

Creating four core elements that must be included in blended learning while providing teachers autonomy
Two students work together, one student, with pencil in hand, gestures at paper

Developing a Culture of Experimentation

“It’s not pilot, then scale everywhere. We are developing a culture where experimenting can happen.” (Deagan Andrews)
Closeup of person typing at laptop keyboard with a pencil in hand

Collecting School-Level Data to Create Feedback Loops

“Not only can schools track their development, but they are also honing their understanding of personalized learning.” (Kimberly Richards)
image of MakingSenseEmpathy.png

Activity: Making Sense of Empathy Interviews

Tell stories and find themes from empathy interviews
image of Districtwide-Learning-Framework-To-Create-Coherence-With-Greater-School-Autonomy.png

Hopkins Public Schools

Districtwide Learning Framework To Create Coherence With Greater School Autonomy

Leveraging a learning framework to support school-based decision making
Teacher holds open book, presenting it to students, talking

System-Wide Definition of Blended or Personalized Learning

“The vision has to be your North Star.” (Rebecca Midles)
Teacher holds up clipboard, showing it to others and writing on it with marker

Letting Schools Determine Their Implementation Timing

“We were intentional about having fewer directives and erred on the side of experimentation and innovation.” (Heather Van Looy)
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Activity: Build a Shared Commitment to Change

Clarify your purpose for embarking on design work
image of Virtual-Coaching-for-Teachers.png

Ector Country Independent School District

Virtual Coaching for Teachers

Using technology to create access to coaching for educators
Educator presenting on stage in front of blue background, gesturing to crowd

Advice: Targeted Messaging

How to develop key messages for stakeholders around blended and personalized learning
Teacher watches student with headphones on work on tablet

Scaling Using a Cohort Model

“We learn something with each cohort to make the process as relevant and useful for schools as possible.” (Heather Van Looy)
Person writes with pencil on a paper that reads, "Reasoning"

Letting Schools Define Their Own Pathways in Blended Learning

“Our job is to empower the innovators, empower the schools, and our communities.” (Kevin Connors)
View of teacher sitting in hallway with group of students

Locust Grove Middle School

Henry County’s School Redesign Process

Creating consistent structures to help schools implement personalized learning
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Hopkins Public Schools

School-Based Budget Decision Making with District-Facilitated Support

Providing school leaders with school-based autonomy for budgeting
Teacher and student sit at desk, talking, sitting in front of laptop

Scaling Small Practices Organically

“Micro-changes add up.” (Michael Fauteux)
Teachers point at paper while working off of laptops

Locust Grove Middle School

Scaling Personalized Learning through Cohorts in Henry County School District

Henry County Schools created a cohort model to roll out blended learning across the entire district
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Hopkins Public Schools

Vision 2031: Adoption of District-Wide, 10-Year Vision for Innovation

District vision of an innovative education and portrait of a graduate in 2031
Student presents experiment setup

Locust Grove Middle School

Developing Academic Competencies

Creating equitable expectations for all students by providing clear and consistent academic competencies
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Activity: District Self-Assessment

Use current data and historical narratives to better understand inequities
Several students sit on floor with laptops

Locust Grove Middle School

Henry County Schools’ Shift To Personalized Learning

Moving from ideas to implementation at the district level
Meeting of people convenes at large conference table, people talking amongst each other

Activity: Reflect on Equity in Your Process

Take time to step back and reflect on how equitable your design process has been
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Meriden Public Schools

Building Multilingual Systems of Support and Engagement for Parents/Guardians

Providing multilingual support to engage parents/guardians in their child’s remote learning experience
Two students stand at whiteboard, one writes in marker on the board while the other looks on

Centralizing Design Capabilities to Drive Decentralized School Strategies

“People think of district change as a three-year move, but it’s not. We have to think about long-term sustainability.” (Deagan Andrews)
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Activity: Match the Right Solution to Your Problem

How to narrow your set of potential solutions to one aligned idea
People sitting in a row, writing in notebooks

Activity: Reflect on Equity in Your Solution

Take time to step back and ensure that your proposed solution is an equitable one
image of Parent-Square-for-Two-way-Communication.png

Meriden Public Schools

ParentSquare for Two-Way Communication

A tool for two-way parent/guardian and school communication