Spotlights & Case Studies
Learn more about ideas, approaches, and lessons learned across innovative schools, practices, and research.
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Introducing a Framework to Guide the Change Process
This is the third and final installment in a three-part series that focuses on the process that helps leaders bring those conditions to life through the Friction Free Transformation Framework.
The 4Cs: Understanding Agency-Driven Leadership in Action
This second installment in a three-part series introduces the 4Cs—Conceptual Understanding, Commitment, Competency, and Capacity—as a practical framework for agency-driven leadership, offering leaders clear entry points to strengthen the conditions...
Agency-Driven Leadership: The Catalyst for Change
This first installment in a three-part series introduces the concept of agency-driven leadership, exploring how leaders at every level can act as catalysts for change by modeling the focus, resilience, and growth mindset that make agentic learning...
Beyond the Pilot: How to Scale Up Innovation in Schools
This Insight explores the importance of a deliberate, phased approach to implementing educational initiatives, emphasizing that intentionality, rather than speed, is crucial for long-term success. By piloting new practices, building teacher...
Supporting Student Nutrition in Virtual and Hybrid Settings: Lessons from Addressing the Digital Divide
Virtual learners often can't access the same level of nutritional support as their in-person peers. This insight helps virtual and hybrid school and system leaders tackle this challenge.
Learner-Centered Design in Virtual and Hybrid Learning
For students to succeed in a virtual/hybrid learning environment, it is essential for schools and teachers to implement learner-centered design practices. This Insight explores the research behind this critical lever and real-world case studies of...
Student Engagement in Virtual and Hybrid Learning
For students to succeed in a virtual/hybrid learning environment, it is essential for schools and teachers to foster learner-centered design practices. This Insight explores the research behind this critical lever and real-world case studies of...
Norms and Expectations in Virtual and Hybrid Learning
For students to succeed in a virtual/hybrid learning environment, it is essential for schools to establish clear norms and expectations to ease students’ and families’ transitions into virtual and hybrid learning and set them up for success. This...
Family Engagement in Virtual and Hybrid Learning
For students to succeed in a virtual/hybrid learning environment, it is vital that schools put support structures in place that inform, encourage, and support families as an integral part of their child’s learning experience. This Insight explores...
Belonging in Virtual and Hybrid Learning Environments
For students to succeed in a virtual/hybrid learning environment, it is crucial to not only attend to students’ emotions on the other side of the screen – but also prioritize building relationships and creating a sense of social presence similar to...
Addressing Teacher and Student Capacity with Technology
For students to succeed in a virtual/hybrid learning environment, it is essential for schools to improve both teacher and student capacity with technology. This Insight explores the research behind this critical lever and real-world case studies of...
How Do Edtech Products “Stack” Up?: Improving Quality in Virtual and Hybrid Learning Through Technology
This resource distills learnings about what must be true for edtech to promote virtual and hybrid learning program quality and offers leaders a series of questions to ask themselves when considering their own edtech products’ ability to do so.
Getting the Most Out of K-12 Online Resources and Repositories
As technology continues to advance, online resource repositories – the websites, hubs, libraries, or other platforms used to find and implement resources and practices – have become an increasingly popular tool for educators looking to innovate....
Recovery Through Reinvention
This actionable insight covers how education leaders can use The Learning Accelerator's Hop, Skip, Leapfrog Guide to lead their educators through change management and reinvention of school models.
Leveraging Virtual and Hybrid Learning to Increase Course Access: Guidance for State Leaders
This guidance highlights a number of the considerations that states are making about their course access programs, demonstrates models states have developed based on these considerations, and provides resources to help states address critical...
Measuring Unfinished Learning: A Guide for Schools and Systems to Understand and Measure Student Progress
This insight investigates how education leaders can take an asset-based approach to measuring student learning, offering concrete processes and methodology to examine learner growth during times of disruption to student learning.
Three Steps to Effectively Engage Learners in a Synchronous Video Learning Experience
Explore ways to design an effective synchronous video learning experiences, starting with what you already know and exploring the effective in-person strategies you used prior to remote learning.
Reflecting on Hops, Skips, and Leaps at Taos Academy Charter
In this Insight, Elizabeth LeBlanc shares some of the hops, skips, and leaps Taos Academy Charter has made during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate effective teaching and learning – and examines what they'll take forward with them.
Real-Time Redesign Case Study: Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
This case study provides an overview of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District's experience progressing through Real-Time Redesign.
Real-Time Redesign Case Study: Cedar Rapids Community School District
This case study provides an overview of Cedar Rapids Community School District's experience progressing through Real-Time Redesign.
Real-Time Redesign Case Study: Mastery Charter Schools
This case study provides an overview of Mastery Charter Schools' experience progressing through Real-Time Redesign.
Today's One Thing for Teachers: Summer Learning – How to Continue Engagement and Fill Gaps
This week’s edition of Today’s One Thing addresses how to keep students engaged with learning during the summer months.
Today's One Thing for Leaders: What's Next? Planning for Success When There Is No Plan
This installment of Today's One Thing for Leaders explores how education leaders can think about planning for the months ahead and the relaunch of learning in the fall.
Today’s One Thing for Teachers: Remote Family Engagement
This installment of Today’s One Thing addresses how to remotely engage families to support student development and outcomes.
Today’s One Thing for Leaders: Engaging and Supporting Families and Teachers Over the Summer
This installment of Today's One Thing for Leaders explores how leaders can support and engage families and teachers over the summer.
Today’s One Thing for Teachers: Social-Emotional Learning in a Virtual Setting
This installment of Today’s One Thing discusses how to implement social-emotional learning activities in a remote classroom setting.
Today’s One Thing for Leaders: Hiring Teachers in a Remote Setting, Part 2 – Teacher Onboarding
This installment of Today's One Thing for Leaders explores the process of onboarding new teachers in a remote environment.
Today’s One Thing for Teachers: Differentiating Instruction in a Virtual Setting
In this week’s installment of Today’s One Thing, we address how to differentiate instruction in a remote setting.
Today’s One Thing for Leaders: Hiring Teachers in a Remote Setting, Part 1 – Active Recruitment and Selection
This installment of Today's One Thing for Leaders explores the process of hiring teachers in a remote setting through active recruitment.
Today’s One Thing for Teachers: Assessing for Learning
This edition of Today’s One Thing for Teachers discusses different ways you can remotely assess learning to improve instruction.
Today’s One Thing for Leaders: Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week from a Distance
This installment of Today's One Thing for Leaders explores ways to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week in a remote learning environment.
Today’s One Thing for Teachers: Curating Content
In this installment of TLA’s Today’s One Thing, we look at how teachers can flip their already existing content and leverage Open Educational Resources (OER) to teach in their virtual classrooms.
Professional development strategies to support teachers during the shift to remote learning
This Insight shares useful professional development strategies that help PD providers support educators during the shift to remote learning spaces.
Today's One Thing for Leaders: Connecting Remotely
In this first installment of Today's One Thing for Leaders, we discuss how to meet the social needs of school teams and students in a remote environment.
Today's One Thing for Teachers: Setting Up Systems of Accountability
This installment of TLA’s Today’s One Thing addresses how to set up structures for student accountability by using student-driven trackers.
Today's One Thing for Teachers: Structures for Independent Student Work
This installment of TLA’s Today’s One Thing touches on how to help build structures to guide students to work effectively and independently from home.
Today's One Thing for Teachers: Building Connections
Today's One Thing is TLA's new series aimed at sharing concrete resources, ideas, tools, and best practices around one specific topic targeted towards helping educators and leaders solve their challenges around the recent shift to remote and online...
Leadership that Moves You Forward, Part III: Diving Deeper on Creating Culture for Change
This Insight, based off of research conducted by the Institute for Teaching and Leading, explores the actions of school and district leadership in terms of their impact on empowerment, self-efficacy, mindset, and motivation of the learning...
Leadership That Moves You Forward, Part II: Engagement, Collaboration, and Teambuilding
This Insight, based off of research conducted by the Institute for Teaching and Leading, explores the most impactful actions site-level leadership can use to effectively lead schools through engagement, collaboration, and teambuilding.
Leadership That Moves You Forward: Innovation, Vision, and Planning
To help understand how district and building-level administrators can successfully manage the change process when leading personalized learning initiatives, the Institute for Teaching and Leading (i4tl) conducted research looking at which actions by...
Prior Knowledge - Mental Hooks for Learning: IgnitED Research Insight
In this installment of IgnitED Research, a series that aims to build stronger connections between learning science and instructional practice, we look at prior knowledge and its uses in maximizing learning.
Learner-Led Classroom Management: IgnitED Research Insight
In this installment of IgnitED Research, a series that aims to build stronger connections between learning science and instructional practice, we look at classroom management and how to empower students to co-create and drive management processes.
Retrieval Practice - Power Tools for Instruction: IgnitED Research Insight
This installment of our series connecting learning science and instructional practice focuses on how retrieving information helps students learn.
Mix It Up! The Benefits of Mixed-Ability Groups: IgnitED Research Insight
This installment of our series connecting learning science and instructional practice focuses on the benefits of mixed-ability student groups.
Not All Feedback is Created Equal: IgnitED Research Insight
This installment of our series connecting learning science and instructional practice focuses on the evidence base about feedback, and how this evidence can be applied in your classroom.
The Myth of Learning Styles: IgnitED Research Insight
This first installment of our series connecting learning science and instructional practice focuses on the evidence base which shows learning styles do not exist, and how this evidence can be applied in your classroom.
Virtual Comparison Groups: Understanding What Worked, How, and Why
This Insight investigates the use of NWEA report data alongside a virtual comparison group to produce actionable insights when implementing blended learning.
Storytelling Built to Engage Community Stakeholders
Most schools and districts have a specific communications strategy built-in to their yearly calendar; however, many of these schools and districts need to work on the storytelling they use in order to leverage communication strategies more...
Measurement in Action: Using existing data and staff to measure personalized learning
We engaged in two researcher-practitioner partnerships (RPPs) with Distinctive Schools, and Leadership Public Schools over one school year to help them determine how best to scale their personalized learning initiatives. Here are the lessons we...
Teachers Guild and TLA want to know: How do YOU personalize learning in your classroom?
Teachers Guild and The Learning Accelerator are joining forces for a personalized learning collaboration. As a kickoff, we asked educators to submit their favorite lessons or activities that they already use to personalize learning in their...
The "Why" and "How" of Mastery-Based Progression
As more and more educators across the country are moving towards blended learning, they are struggling with a very challenging question: how exactly do I make mastery-based progression happen in my classroom?
Learning Science and Personalization
Using how your students learn to drive your practices and personalize for students through self-reflection, empowering your learners, and allowing for multiple paths to mastery.
Creating Culture that Drives Personalization
Creating a classroom culture that personalizes learning for students is facilitated by teaching key skills and mindsets that students need to navigate their education.
Innovative Approaches to Mastery-Based Grading
Springpoint's paper, Inside Mastery Based High Schools: Profiles and Conversations, includes several innovative approaches to the challenge of mastery-based grading.
From Theory to Practice: How Blended and Personalized Learning Comes to Life in the Classroom
Discover strategies for implementing blended and personalized learning in classrooms
What Student Choice and Agency Actually Look Like
Snapshots from six schools using blended learning to put students in control. (Originally published in eSchoolNews on November 14, 2016)
Navigating Management Challenges
Find out how Relay GSE has approached management and classroom culture when implementing blended learning.
How Can I Learn More about This Site?
Watch these brief videos to discover the multiple features of the Blended & Personalized Learning Practices at Work site.
Shifting to self-directed learning: Setting a "default" mode
Blended and personalized learning models attempt to put students into greater control of their learning. Teachers need to build in explicit supports and structures to support students as they exercise greater choice and control. One structure we...
Step One: Craft a compelling why
Successful blended and personalized implementations have clear statements for why they are pursuing change through blended and personalized learning. They ground all of their work in this “why,” referring back to it again and again.
