How School and District Leaders Can Create the Conditions for Innovation and Change
Panelists
Jimmy Casas, Future Ready Schools Advisor and former principal, Bettendorf High School (IA) (@casas_jimmy)
Deb Delisle, President, Alliance for Excellent Education (@DebDelisle)
Dr. Suzanne Lacey, Superintendent, Talladega County Schools, AL (@tcboe)
Moderator
Thomas C. Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools®, Alliance for Excellent Education (@thomascmurray)
Leadership and school culture lay the foundation of successful schools. For digital learning to thrive, school and district leaders need to create conditions that empower teachers to take risks and try new things.
In 2014, Digital Learning Day (DLDay) featured Talladega County Schools in Alabama for its systemic vision, the way the teachers leveraged technology, and the culture change it underwent to make it happen. Now, five years later, it continues to create dynamic student learning experiences through the addition of STEM opportunities, even though funding remains difficult. Since 2014, Talladega has recognized that many of its students lacked the needed internet access at home and created innovative solutions and partnerships to close this gap. Dr. Suzanne Lacey shared the district’s progress over the past five years, how they continue to overcome obstacles, and how rich digital opportunities are leading to deeper learning experiences for students and higher achievement results as a district.
Veteran Principal and Future Ready Advisor, Jimmy Casas, discussed how school leaders create cultures of innovation in their schools. It’s no secret that school and district leadership set the tone for such transformation, but building trust, modeling the way, and creating a culture of excellence remain vital for the change process to happen and be sustainable over time.
Future Ready Schools’ Director of Innovation, Thomas C. Murray, moderate the event and drew upon his experience as a former principal and district level leader. Additionally, he shared what’s been happening around the nation through the work of Future Ready Schools.
Please direct questions concerning the webinar to ldossin@all4ed.org. If you are unable to watch the webinar live, please register to receive the video archive directly in your inbox.
Future Ready Schools® is a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed), a Washington, DC–based national policy, practice, and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those underperforming and those traditionally underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship. www.FutureReady.org
Follow FRS on Twitter (twitter.com/FutureReady); Facebook (facebook.com/futurereadyschools); and the FRS Leadership Hub (futureready.org/hub).
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