On Our Minds:

Happy 2016 To Every District, EdTech Partner and Friend Who Made 2015 Our Best Year Ever!

New Year, New Amazing School Districts

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with Orange Public Schools in Orange, NJ. This month Education Elements will begin working with the district team to support designing and implementing personalized learning in a pilot elementary school, Rosa Parks Community School, in September 2016. This school will be the first, (but not the last!), to do personalized learning in the 5,500 student district.

Education Elements is also excited to continue our work a little bit farther south in New Jersey with Freehold Township Elementary District, the home of Cohort 1 LELA Fellow, Ross Kasun. Ross and his team are highly engaged in personalized learning and frequent speakers around the country. Education Elements is excited to help them continue their district transformation.

We are looking forward to kicking off our new partnership and work with Loudoun Public Schools in Ashburn, VA. Loudoun County Public Schools' strategic vision, One World, includes project-based learning and blended learning and we can't wait to help them with it. LCPS is partnering with Education Elements to support the implementation of blended learning in 10 elementary schools and 5 middle schools.

10 More Leaders to Learn to Personalize Learning

We are thrilled to welcome our second cohort of LELA Fellows. Out of hundreds of applicants, The Lexington Institute selected ten district leaders to join as fellows this winter, They represent a range of districts in terms of geography and size, spanning from California to Georgia, from two schools to ninety-four. The ten fellows include: Angelique Nedved (Lawrence Public Schools, KS), Eric Hibbs (Marlboro Township Public Schools, NJ), Juan Cabrera (El Paso ISD), Valya Lee (Liberty County, GA), Wanda Creel (Gainesville City School System), Dennis Krueger (Howard-Suamico School District, WI), Kim Hendon (Roanoke City Schools, AL), Richard Hughes (Central Valley CSD, NY), David Pyle (Nuview School District, CA), and Kevin West (Roselle Public Schools, NJ).

Education Elements is proud to support LELA fellows through this exciting and highly selective six month program designed to expose district leaders to personalized learning and facilitate the first steps toward vision setting and implementation. Applications for the next class of LELA fellows will open this Spring. Please email: lela@lexingtoninstitute.org to be added to a notification list.

PL Summit 2015 Was Great - and 2016 Will Be Even Better

We are excited to announce the 2nd Education Elements National Personalized Learning Summit! This is the premier personalized learning event in the country.After the success of our first PL Summit 2015, in San Jose CA, with a lot of excitment we are planning the PL Summit 2016, where more than 300 school and district leaders will gather in San Francisco, CA this May 19-20 to share resources, best practices, and tools for launching, scaling, and deepening personalized learning.

While registration is not yet open you can, check out the event here, and email yosr@edelements.com to receive updates and a link to registration when it becomes available, the third week of this month.

Design Spotlight:

We are thrilled to share we have started personalized learning design work in Hartford Public Schools! In November and December we hosted both a Design Academy and Launch Academy with school leaders and teachers from Bulkeley High School and Journalism & Media Academy. Across both schools, 30 teachers will implement a blended model this spring as the district takes the first steps towards moving to "student-centered learning," a key goal in their strategic plan. Teachers at both schools were asked to design classrooms that included the core four components of blended learning: small group instruction, integrated digital content, data-driven decisions, and student reflection. Participants left the workshops energized and ready to test out their models after the winter break. Some closing thoughts from participants included:

I enjoy the exemplars that we learn about through the articles and videos, keep them coming!
Great information - I've got tons of ideas and I can't write them down fast enough!
Can't wait for more!

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Places to Meet Up

Connect with us!

Utah School Boards Association Annual State Conference: Join Ben at the “Building Better Boards” conference in Salt Lake City, UT, January 7th-9th

DALI: Find us at the District Administration Leadership Institute Winter Summits at the Waldorf Astoria, Orlando, FL, January 13th – 16th and at the Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains, Scottsdale, AZ, February 24th-27th.

SXSWEdu: Once again Anthony Kim will take the stage in a great debate - this time against Alex Hernandez of the Charter School Growth Fund with Julia Freeland Fisher of the Christensen Institute moderating. Trust us, you don't want to miss it. March 7-10 in Austin, Texas.

PL Summit 2016: Save the date for the Personalized Learning Summit 2016, in San Francisco, CA. Join us for a two-day event focused on guiding your personalized learning journey.

Want to meet up at an event? Email amy@edelements.com and tell us where you will be!

Education Elements in the News

People are talking about us...and you!

Ready to Start Personalized Learning on the Right Foot?

Download the Personalized Learning District Framework.

Education Elements Personalized Learning District Framework

Need a Post-Holiday Blues Present as a Pick-me-Up?

Download the Personalized Learning Playbook from our website for FREE, enjoy the graphics from the book, and join our Personalized Learning Community to discuss the playbook, ask questions and share thoughts. You can also buy it from Amazon here!