Lake County Superintendent Diane Kornegay
Former Lake County Fla. Superintendent Susan Moxley set out to achieve one goal above all others in her eight years in the top position at the district: Customize education for each student, preparing them for college and careers.
The Central Florida district was one of six in the nation to receive a three-year, $3.1 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Next Gen Systems Initiative in 2014. The money was supposed to help prepare schools for personalized learning — a concept that has become a focal point for Gates and other major philanthropists, as well as educators and advocates across the ideological spectrum.
Three years later, the district is changing course.
Most of the grant money has been spent. The district is sending back the remainder of the funding and discontinuing the program.
Under new leadership, district officials argue they do not need to spend money on a program dedicated to personalized learning. Some skeptics say it simply embodies good teaching.
See also: When we say personalized learning, what do we mean?
There's no question the grant changed practices throughout the district and lit a fire in some educators — some of whom have carried the torch to other employers.
But it's also clear some of the changes the grant sought, like the development of a competency-based learning system encouraged by a new state law, won't come to fruition. At least, they won't in Lake.
The experience in this district of 41,000 students sheds light on what it will take to spread personalized learning from conference halls and foundation boardrooms to classrooms across the country. (more…)
