"I have this feeling that from a relationship perspective we’re on the front end of a new model that can build stronger bonds and deeper trust across levels."

Jim Rickabaugh, Institute for Personalized Learning


How has Wisconsin been able to establish itself as a leader in the push to make learning more personalized for every student?

Part of the answer comes from a innovative approach to governance: twelve cooperative educational service agencies, independent of the state, that exist solely to help local districts coordinate services and receive the type of professional development their educators feel is most important towards advancing their professional practice. As State Superintendent of Public Instruction Anthony Evers puts it, "What personalization has done for teachers in an era where they rightly believe that some of their ability to chart their own course has been constrained by testing is allowed them to make more decisions about what needs to happen with their class and with their students they work with. And that’s really important."