Three more successful district blended learning programs profiled in Proof Points series

In April Evergreen and the Christensen Institute released the first six case studies that examine successful blended learning efforts in traditional school districts, and the associated improvements in student outcomes. Proof Points: Blended Learning Success provides profiles of leaders in blended learning and explores their innovative strategies. We have now released the next three profiles in the series. The three new ones are:

• District of Columbia Public Schools, Washington, D.C., has redesigned 17 schools to incorporate blended learning. It has recorded extensive and well-studied student gains in math and reading on district-wide assessments and the National Assessment of Educational Progress since implementing blended learning.
• Horry County Schools, Conway, SC, began its blended learning initiative, called the Personalized Digital Learning program, in the fall of 2013. Elementary and middle school student growth scores in math and reading have improved since the district began implementing blended learning; these increases have been greatest in middle school, which has had the most comprehensive blended-learning implementation.
• Since 2007, the Mooresville Graded School District, Mooresville, NC, has been implementing what it calls the Digital Conversion Initiative to employ technology in ways that improve teaching and learning through increased student engagement, including the use of blended learning. Student scores on end-of-grade and end-of-course exams have steadily increased since 2007, and MGSD was rated number one in North Carolina for meeting the state’s targets for proficiency and other measures in the 2013–14 school year.

These three new profiles are added to the original six, which were the following:

• Innovations Early College High School, Salt Lake City, UT, was created to address concerns about the number of students who were becoming disengaged and dropping out of their schools. For the 2013–14 school year, its graduation rate was substantially higher than the average graduation rate of the district, state, and nation.
• Poudre School District Global Academy, Fort Collins, CO, opened in the fall of 2009 to provide a flexible school option for students in grades K–12. Based on student growth measures in several different grade levels and subject areas, the PSD Global Academy is ranked as the first or second best school in the district and is in the top 5% of all schools in the state.
• Randolph Central School District, Randolph, NY, created a blended-learning program at the elementary school that focused on differentiated instruction. Since implementing the blended program, math scores on state assessments have improved significantly across the board.
• Spokane Public Schools, Spokane WA, has developed and implemented blended learning in numerous programs across the district with a goal of increasing graduation rates and college and career readiness. The district has increased its graduation rate from 60% in 2007 to 83% in 2014.
• Spring City Elementary Hybrid Learning School, Spring City, PA, uses a three-station Station Rotation model of blended learning. It has seen improved test scores in math, reading, and science since implementing its blended-learning program.
• The Virtual Instruction to Accentuate Learning (VITAL) program of the Putnam County School System, Cookeville, TN, provides a wide range of blended-learning options to students across the district. It has improved the district’s graduation rate and allowed hundreds of students to gain college credits while in high school.

We are researching our final three profiles and looking forward to releasing them in the coming weeks.