News Brief
CCSSO ILN Sites Awarded Grants to Improve College and Career Readiness
By Adriana MartinezSites from CCSSO's Innovation Lab Network (ILN) in Kentucky, New Hampshire and Wisconsin were awarded Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) Wave IV grants, aimed to accelerate educational innovation to improve college and career readiness for all students. These districts are implementing competency-based, personalized, and blended learning models in their schools as part of the ILN's commitment to advancing student-centered approaches to learning.
Danville Independent School District, one of Kentucky's designated Districts of Innovation, and New Hampshire's Virtual Learning Academy Charter School will receive $450,000 to launch breakthrough models in the fall of 2013. Danville Schools will be redesigning its middle and high schools to a competency-based, problem-based, and blended learning model. The Virtual Learning Academy Charter is a statewide online charter school that redefined "school" to mean 'wherever learning occurs' and takes a 100% self-paced competency-based approach, that harnesses internships, service-learning, and distributed learning team-based projects. NGLC also awarded West Allis-West Milwaukee (WAWM) a planning grant of $100,000 for a complete redesign of West Allis-West Milwaukee schools starting in the fall of 2014. The academic model in WAWM schools will involve Individual Learning Plans, data-driven planning and decision making, inquiry-based learning, digital learning tools, and strong staff/student relationships.
For more information about CCSSO's Innovation Lab Network click here or contact Adriana Martinez at adriana.martinez@ccsso.org.