Clearly Defining Definitions of “Tight” and “Loose”

Overview

In Henry County Schools, GA, district leaders set a long-term vision and definition for personalizing learning but started their implementation process by giving schools high levels of flexibility about how to engage. As they learned from experience, however, they adapted their engagement process with schools and modified the kinds of supports they offered to better fit schools’ needs. This meant constructing clearer (and in some cases stricter) “guard rails,” higher expectations for what schools must demonstrate before accessing district funds, and differentiated supports for schools at different stages in their implementation process.