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Future Ready Schools® Announces Eight Regional Institutes for District and School Leaders

Institutes to Provide Valuable Professional Development, Networking Opportunities for Educators Looking to Personalize Learning for Students

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Future Ready Schools® (FRS) announced a series of free regional events to support educators who are planning to implement personalizing learning strategies for their students. This student-centered approach tailors instruction to students’ unique strengths and needs while engaging them in challenging, standards-based academic content. The eight “institutes” include personal professional development opportunities for district leaders, IT directors, principals, librarians and media specialists, as well as teacher leaders and instructional coaches.  

“FRS institutes are a powerful opportunity for educators to network with peers and learn from innovators in their own backyard who are dealing with many of the same challenges,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, which leads FRS. “For districts that are just starting out or are further along, FRS institutes will help educators take the next step in their journey to personalize learning for their students and become future ready.”

FRS is working with an advisory board of education experts to create a research-based, two-day agenda filled with personalized professional learning opportunities for educators led by expert facilitators. Each FRS institute will launch ongoing regional networks of enthusiastic implementation experts who will act as mentors to support and host follow-up activities to ensure districts have the resources needed to create customized, actionable personalized learning plans.

Registration is open to one leadership team per district at www.futureready.org/institutes.

The 2017 FRS institutes are FREE, but space is limited. Dates and locations are as follows:

July 13–14: Denver, CO
July 20–21: Albany, NY
August 3–4: Palm Springs, CA
September 25–26: Indianapolis, IN
October 11–12: Philadelphia, PA
October 26–27: New Orleans, LA
November 14–15: Sacramento, CA
November 29–30: Detroit, MI

The eight FRS institutes come on the heels of twenty FRS summits or workshops over the last two years that helped more than 650 school district teams representing 2,100 education leaders who are improving learning outcomes through the effective use of technology. The institutes do not lead with technology; instead, they focus on leadership and create cultures of innovation, systemic change management, and the effective use of data and resources to personalize learning for all students.

The institutes are built on the foundation of the FRS framework and include differentiated sessions for each audience described above, along with extensive training for FRS project managers on the FRS interactive planning dashboard, a free online tool that serves more than 900 school districts. Through the dashboard, school district leadership teams develop plans to effectively use technology and improve learning outcomes. Aligned with Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act, district leaders use the FRS five-step planning process to set a vision for student learning, assess their needs, identify gaps, obtain strategies, and plan and track their progress over time. This process begins before districts invest valuable resources to purchase laptops, tablets, and other technological devices.

A project of the Alliance for Excellent Education, FRS helps school districts develop the human and technological capacity needed to personalize student learning and prepare students for college, a career, and citizenship. Over the last two years, 3,100 school districts’ superintendents—representing more than 19.2 million students—have signed the Future Ready District Pledge, committing to personalize learning for students using effective digital learning strategies.

The FRS institutes are generously supported by partners Follett, McGraw Hill Education, Pearson Education, and Summit Learning. To learn more about the institutes, visit www.futureready.org/institutes.

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The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC–based national policy, practice, and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those traditionally underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, a career, and citizenship. www.all4ed.org