Nine Districts Selected for New RIDE Pilot Program, Two From Park County
Written by Jessi Entel on July 20, 2023
A collaboration between Governor Mark Gordon, Superintendent Megan Degenfelder, the Wyoming Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the University of Wyoming College of Education, known as “Wyoming’s Future of Learning”, has selected nine school districts into the RIDE Pilot which supports Student-Centered Learning.
Seventeen school districts across the state submitted applications, with strong interest in the state’s pilot program. The “Wyoming’s Future of Learning” Collaborative reviewed and unanimously decided to include nine districts in the first year of the pilot, with two districts being from Park County.
Park 6 and Park 16 were two of the nine selected with the remaining seven being as follows: Albany 1, Converse 1, Laramie 1, Lincoln 1, Sweetwater 2, Teton 1 and Weston 7. The districts chosen include both urban and rural communities and will provide statewide representation.
“I applaud these nine districts and their communities for their commitment and willingness to engage in a pilot program that will help empower educators to implement more student-centered classrooms,” Governor Gordon said.
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“This paradigm shift could provide a unique opportunity for students, educators and parents to partner in the creation of a purposeful, engaging education experience that prepares students for the future. Launching these pilots will give us feedback from classrooms to keep innovating.”
The pilot program will allow participating districts to have more student-centered learning options designed with four areas of focus: competency-based learning; flexible pathways; personalized learning; and student choice.
The selected districts are diverse in their educational approaches and build upon areas aligned with their communities’ needs and goals.
“Elementary students have a real love of learning at this age. In our traditional school system these students are loved, guided, and directed in their learning. However, one negative by-product of this system is that students lose their ability to be creative as they learn ‘the way to learn.’”, said Shane Ogden, Superintendent of Park County School District No. 16.
“We are trying to infuse creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and communication into our elementary students curriculum. This pilot program would allow us to collaborate with other schools and policy makers to explore how providing student choice and the soft skills of learning in our school will cultivate the whole student into a lifelong learner and leader.”
“We have also done the initial learning around the Profile of the Graduate, and we are looking forward to aligning our curricular frameworks to the profile.” added Dr. Paige Fenton Hughes, Superintendent of Converse County School District No. 1.
The program will formally begin later this summer with a statewide kick-off in the early fall of 2023. In addition to the program in the nine districts chosen, there will be statewide professional development opportunities with an emphasis on Student-Centered Learning practices in all schools across the state.
