A district’s vision is central to everything they do and everything they hope to accomplish, which is why we created a visioning toolkit, Laying the Groundwork for a
Community-Wide Vision for Personalized Learning.

If you really want to change the system, a vision must be created by and lived throughout your community. District leaders can’t do this work alone, and neither can teachers. The entire community needs to lift up learning, support teachers and encourage students to learn both in and outside of school. Because this work is bigger than just your district – it belongs to the entire learning community.

Based on our experiences in schools and the research we’ve done around the conditions necessary for scaling personalized learning, KnowledgeWorks believes an essential first step to this work is to craft, develop and sustain a community-wide vision for personalized, competency-based learning. But just what is personalized learning?

Personalized learning empowers students through clear learning targets that they work toward at their own pace. It’s made possible by a student-centered culture that encourages risk-taking and growth mindset, where teachers, learners and community members set a shared vision and build innovative and transparent learning environments where all students grow.

Your vision for personalized learning will be your district’s and your community’s vision for the knowledge, skills and characteristics you hope your graduates will possess, what outcomes you hope to improve and what makes your district and your community unique. Not every school or classroom is the same, but elevating a common vision will ground everyone in the importance of the work.

Inside the visioning toolkit

In Laying the Groundwork for a
Community-Wide Vision for Personalized Learning, you’ll find the following resources to help you begin and sustain the work of implementing personalized learning:

1. Guidance on crafting a system-wide vision for personalized learning, incorporating diverse stakeholder voices
2. Questions and considerations for finding the right people to champion the work of personalizing learning
3. Direction on how to identify factors that may impact implementation
4. Help with creating messages to introduce your vision to key audiences and sustaining enthusiasm for personalized learning