Special Report_Remodel for Digital Transition

p 1 of 34 Remodeling ▪ Special Report
Research & Context on the
Shift to Digital Curriculum
SPECIAL REPORT
Remodeling
for Digital Curriculum
In this Issue
The Classroom Remodeling Mission
Exploring Space: The Final Frontier
Layout Options for the Remodel
Spotlights on Successful Transformation
Remodeling Nationwide

When the function of things change, it is
inevitable that the form and structure around
those functions change as well.
A rapid digital transition is underway, and at
the heart of that is a multiplicity of new software
which itself is causing dramatic shifts in how
teaching and learning are getting done. What’s
inside sophisticated software systems today
changes the function of teacher-student
interactions.
Teacher-as-source in front of the class is
more and more an archaic model. Guided
courseware creates greater individualization
and self-directedness that allows new freedoms.
Schools can create learning “expos,” or places
of high engagement, teachers can give special
attention to each student, and students can
explore and personalize.
Could it be that the revolution in education is the
creation of “a theatre of experience?” Could it
be the environment is as much a knowledge as
the subjects and topics? Could it be the digital
learning objects are the “furniture” being moved
around in a digital universe as individualized
chunked mixes of knowledge, and where the
physical universe real furniture mirrors this
dynamic mobility with teachers and students
in various modes of learning? Could the school
be a social knowledge itself as a stimulating
arena that challenges students by being bright,
beautiful, and able to mutate from warmly casual
to rigorously professional in a flash?
We think that teachers and administrators must
understand the digital things, their increasing
sophistication and character internal to software
and devices, and from those, infer a remodel
of their form and academic structure and the
enveloping physical environment to most
thoroughly come into the 21st
Century.
The Inevitable Remodel
LeiLani Cauthen
Well versed in digital content and curriculum change, the adoption process,
successful strategies, and helping schools understand what’s available and
what will work, LeiLani often writes on the changes and future of the education
space. She is a media, research, marketing and sales professional with 26 years
of experience in the high tech, government and education sectors.
LeiLaniCauthen CEO & Publisher
Editorial Contributors
Publisher LeiLani Cauthen
Editor-in-Chief Cebron Walker
Editor Dr. David Kafitz
Contributor Chris Kight
Production
Art & Design Dolly Johnson
Ad Production Manager Denise Reyna
Sales Operations Manager Kristina Hall
Advertising Sales Manager Chris Sprague
sprague@learningcounsel.com 888.611.7709 Ext 27
the Learning Counsel
Copyright 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
3636 Auburn Boulevard • Sacramento, CA 95821 • thelearningcounsel. com
The Learning Counsel helps our
subscribing 170,000+ education
professionals in the K12 and Higher
Ed sector gain context on the shift
to digital curriculum. Our mission
is to help districts and schools reach real transformation
through strategies for digital content & curriculum. Through
consulting services and research, to events, custom publishing
and online editorial, the Learning Counsel provides dynamic
and diverse opportunities for private and public sector leaders
to collaborate for positive change.

Table of Contents
The Classroom Remodeling Mission 6
Exploring Space: The Final Frontier 14
Layout Options for the Remodel 22
Spotlights on Successful Transformation 24
Remodeling Nationwide 31
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The Classroom
Remodeling Mission
The classroom structure of old was typically 30 desks or more facing forward for a predominantly whole group
model. Theatre-style seating placed the teacher at the front-and-center of attention. With a new national focus on
more individualized learning using software tactics, that model is soon to be seen only in old movies.
No longer the exclusive“source-point” of content, teachers instead are using software that today delivers the content
while giving teachers a new freedom and function. They can now customize and curate for each student like never
before. Not being the only source-point, teachers are finding they need more than a theatre-style room and may
need no room at all for some of the learning. Other aspects of what is happening in the software are pushing the
development of yet other special/environmental shifts.

Out with the Old
Lectures and students taking notes or learning as the
teacher used the whiteboard or even (ewwww) chalk,
allowed one efficiency. The teacher gave one lesson to
all the students. The efficiency scale was all weighted
on the side of the teacher, and only the most excellent
in teaching skill were both delivering the lesson and
watching with hawk-like vigilance for those moments
when any one student got lost. If they were truly careful,
at that moment of glaze-over for one student, the
teacher was stopping to collect that lost student back
into the fold, or letting them drop behind.
In either case, at that particular point an inefficiency
was entered. The saving of one sacrificed the time
and attention of all the others who might have grown
bored with the remediation. The not-saving of the one
sacrificed the one, maybe forever. Lecturing is often the
default for teachers unaware of new content delivery
mechanisms, or the great breadth of the internet.
Lecturing dictated the forum form of classrooms in the
first place.
Textbooks had a certain structure and paced learning
through chunks known as chapters. Each chapter
typically had a formative assessment, a little test
for understanding. Or there was an accompanying
workbook for practice, depending on the subject being
covered. Books could deliver ponderous amounts of
information and plenty of nuance using the bridge of
language. Another inefficiency was introduced by books
– reading pace. Not every child in any one class reads
at the exact same speed, so the same bifurcation would
occur, some are bored, some are struggling to keep up.
Discussion time generally fell back to lecturing time, so
the structure of books tended to lend themselves to the
existing form of the classroom and homework reading.
As a side note, mastery reading with book collections
and novels tended to draw out readers to exercise
their imaginations. This is because black-and-white
words on a page express only a train-of-thought
sentence-by-sentence. It does less“show” by picture.
That loss of imagination being sparked is a loss of a
certain instructiveness, and could be one of the things
now showing up missing in the TV and video-game
generations. There are schools that have mentioned to
the Learning Counsel that they have had kids showing
up who have never ever seen a book.
Videos and games convey a lot of the same things as
books, but often do so at the expense of imagination,
which is perhaps the one thing most needed today.
These didn’t much change the classroom because they
are just the addition of a large screen for whole-group
viewing. They start to change the scene as the mobile-
screen steps in, the laptop or tablet or smartphone.
There is no doubt that people learn from video and
games, but the holy grail of learning things that are
not easily story-formed such as all mathematics, is
something that fits between the book and the full video
or long-form game world. That something has come into
being and is rapidly populating the learning landscape.
It’s “Screen Learning.” Not to be confused with
online learning, which is defined very loosely as a
course online that has guidance by a teacher and may
have recorded lectures in it along with documents
and instructions; or distance learning, which is even
more loosely defined as learning across a distance from
an instructor-led course. It’s also not“blended” or
“personalized” or any of the other terms the industry has
used to modify the existing classroom scene.
Screen Learning is both in and outside the context of
the classroom and teacher-learner paradigm.
Screen Learning is also both simpler and more complex
than other terms related to imbuing education with tech.
It’s learning built for the computing screen, and that’s it.
It doesn’t care where you are as a learner, or if a teacher
is there, necessarily, although it doesn’t replace a teacher
in every sense. It’s straight up built for the user. You know,
like Microsoft’s Minecraft is built, marketed and sold to
users. Kids learn elementary code concepts simply from
using it.
Screen Learning is a content delivery mechanism,
which a teacher has had as only one of many functions
in the past. It usually combines reading but also video
embedding and can get as deep as a full virtual world
with interactivity of most of its elements. It could be
built to talk to you, and be personalized by the student
and sometimes individualized by the teacher so that the
student view to lessons is narrowed or“gated”. In that
way, a particular student gets a precise set of lessons. It
may require certain teacher inputs and teacher creativity
within the framework of its master conception.
Being built for the user is where Screen Learning is
abruptly, but subtly, turning learning into the next big
thing for consumerization. Because it also exactly
matches the goals of customized learning so that every
student gets exactly what they need, it’s also dovetailing
into what institutions want to use but are not quite sure
how to leverage in their current context.

Screen Learning and the
Consumerization of Education
The most interesting thing about the burgeoning new
world of Screen Learning is what it’s doing as a form
and how fast it is propagating, which leads to a ripple
effect in other aspects of education. Let’s take a look
at this in context and what we know of the changing
landscape of education as an industry:
■■ An estimated 7,000 digital curriculum and
content companies or source systems already
exist, and that’s before adding in all the one-off
App builders that are sometimes one-man shops.
■■ There are tens of millions of learning“objects”
or bits of learning — think in terms of“chapters”
or“chunks” of knowledge like how to add and
subtract fractions, or perhaps the Declaration
of Independence.
■■ The objects are in a trend pattern of more
discrete, individual and highly mobile bits.
■■ The objects may explain a single part of
knowledge such as understanding pyramid
structure.
■■ The objects are interactive in and of themselves.
■■ The objects can be multi-sensory, incorporating
touch-screens and sound.
■■ Some objects are found in collections of like
things, like videos and short games and e-books
or e-chapters.
■■ Some objects are knowledge bits built into full
courses, with a scope and sequence pre-built for
those individual bits until a pinnacle or totality
of knowledge in that topic is achieved.
■■ Some courseware objects are single lesson and
others are full-coverage of a subject with
multiple lessons that can be spread out in
incremental amounts of time mirroring a daily
classroom need.
■■ Some objects come tethered together with
assessments and some are teaching as an
assessment.
■■ Many times the objects in courseware have
intersection points for teachers to interact and
be able to set controls for the students.
■■ Sometimes the student self-controls the
sequence and collection of objects in a
randomized pattern such as book
collection sites.
■■ Many times the courseware and collections offer
analytics showing how a student is doing to the
student and/or to the teacher.
■■ Sometimes the learning object is a game, offering
all the typical game maneuvers like rewards and
penalties and achievement levels.
■■ The learning objects are highly stylized with
actions, animations, mechanisms, aesthetics,
controls, individualizations, instructs and more,
using developer and designer skills. Most
teachers do not have to achieve ideal user
interface/user experience (UI/UX.)
© MooreCo, Inc.
© MooreCo, Inc.
The form of classrooms and
whole schools is changing to
be flexible to fit the teaching
and learning as it happens,
giving each student a better
learning experience and
hopefully many more “teachable
moments.” Here are samples
of possible classroom plans to
create student collaboration
and problem solving while the
teacher can be free to move in
and out of groups.

HOUSTON’S DATA-DRIVEN
TEACHING & LEARNING ECOSYSTEM
■■ Many of the learning objects provide instructs
in such a way that the learner knows they know
the data at the end. This is perhaps one of the
most significant redirects away from how
teaching and learning has been in the past.
When a learner knows they know,
intermediation by another, as in a teacher or
institution, becomes irrelevant for them. Testing
becomes irrelevant for them. They already know
and may or may not care to prove it to others,
especially when demonstration of mastery is on-
the-job or enhanced contribution. In fact, one
of the constraints of consumerized learning
in the present age is a perceived requirement
for grades, diplomas and degrees that require
institutional accreditation. This may be solved
when trusted software says via built-in
summative assessment that a grade or credit has
been earned, and do so in a publicly consumable
way on behalf of the learner that they can
display at will. Since ultimately the fact of use
of a grade, degree or diploma relies on the trust
of the inspecting party, the college or employer,
and many of these do not inspect them minutely,
the rise of trusted third-party issuers could
become a normal reality. Major brands like
Cisco, Microsoft, Disney and many others
already have certifications that have meaningful
value to anyone.
■■ The learning objects are increasingly meta-
tagged as aligned to a myriad number of
Standards in the K-12, Higher Ed or
professional learning certifications world.
■■ The objects may be accrued just like consumer-
world shopping cart technology or iTunes
libraries, and cut-up and rehashed into a
new object for new“playlists” of knowledge or
“knowmixes” of learning.
The textbook, while still important in many places,
was almost never used in its entirety and those unused
chapters were considered wasteful. In the transition to
digital, teachers wanted“chunked” content so they could
mix and match at will. The industry responded with
delivering exactly what was asked for, in large volume.
Industry also took the opportunity to envelop that
content into scope and sequenced courseware and sell it
as“remedial” to schools and parents online.
The easy entrance to schools was extra practice and
help for students falling behind, so Screen Learning
was a perfect fit. It did not require much teacher
intervention and solved a problem. As education
became ever-more complicated with new standards and
accountability demands, increasing reliance on Screen
Learning allowed schools to start thinking about it as
core learning, not just supplemental. Now the high-
engagement coupled with multi-sensory interactions of
Screen Learning meets digitally native students exactly
right, and increasingly has the heightened scores to
prove it.
The problem is the uptake by schools has been too slow
for the commercial world. Upon invention of these
costly learning objects, publishers have had to try to earn
Places like Houston Independent School
District in Houston, Texas have a
Learning Management System that
houses over one million digital learning
objects. Other districts are similarly
situated or well on their way.
See http://thelearningcounsel.com/
paper/digital-curriculum-strategy-
model-architecture-special-report

in any way that they could. Many of the largest have been nearly
gutted as non-spending of billions of dollars caused cutting
of staff and resources. Many times the talent cut simply went
out and started new software companies, now using superior
knowledge curation skill coupled with new programmers
and software architects to build more start-ups for consumer
products. In the meantime, schools almost universally went with
their own teachers building home-grown learning objects, the
vast majority of which are mere documents, links or recorded
lectures. While these may be pedagogically useful, they aren’t
necessarily meeting students with what they expect given all their
other exposures to consumer-grade technologies.
In fairness, with the content world in fractured small bits,
publishers weren’t ready for a while and no educational
institution was structured to curate and sequence every one of
thousands of standards plus build all the tests. The ordered and
careful world of education content fell to chaos and is still falling.
While the consumer world keeps gaining ground, and companies
like ABCmouse with its billion-dollar market valuation,
Leapfrog, PBS, History Channel, Disney, Amazon and others are
suiting up for the coming take-over, teachers and schools using
no Screen Learning, or no tech at all, are not only behind, most
have no idea there could ever be a quantum shift.
And it’s already here.
Read 180 is an HMH intervention solution to
build comprehension, vocabulary and writing skills.
ABCmouse is designed for children ages
2 through 6 years old. It has over 450
lessons and thousands of activities. The
curriculum was designed with the help
of early childhood education experts. myON provides anytime, anywhere access
to a collection of more than 10,000
enhanced digital books.
PBS Kids leverages the full spectrum of
media and technology to build knowledge,
critical thinking, imagination and curiosity
ST Math is a web-based math
visualization game developed
by Mind Research.
Curriculum Foundry provides you with
tools to build and publish your own digital
curriculum, and includes a vetted repository of
content to get started.
Considering how many schools are
midst this transition away from print
textbooks to digital curriculum,
companies in this space are developing
new systems and tools to support
the move. Learning.Com developed
what they called Curriculum Foundry.
“It’s a system to find, organize,
and share digital content.
Curriculum Foundry’s digital
curriculum building tools, vetted
repository of standards-aligned
OER, and array of learning platform
integrations help school’s save
teachers time, save money,
and gain more control over
their curriculum.”
—Keith Oelrich
CEO, Learning.com

LC
Learning Remodeled: The
Consumerization of Education
Screen Learning causes a needed remodeling of the
physical environment. Schools are doing this by either
remodeling their existing square-box classrooms or
going for a wholesale rip-out of walls and even roofs.
We like to think this is all going in stages:
Stage 1 –Arrival at an estimated 40% of
classroom time as Screen Learning. The rest of the
time probably needs to be spent on project-based-
learning, good old whole-group, or labs. Teachers
optimize their time while kids are in Screen to plan
out the active collaborative time, while still eyeballing
the kids to make sure no one is getting lost.“We’ve
pulled multiple different tools and programs into our
classrooms to deliver screen learning with oversight
from instructors which accomplishes a high level of
engagement and real-time, real-world learning,” said Dr.
Michelle Zimmerman from Renton Prep in Seattle.
“We’ve used software from Florida Virtual Schools,
ALEKS from McGraw Hill, Red Comet and Coursera
and this gives the kids experience with all types of
technical subjects and even experience dealing with live
professors while still in high school. These tools are
preparing our students for college and careers in ways
we couldn’t imagine even 5 years ago. As tools become
more sophisticated, we’ll continue to be able to more
seamlessly merge the physical world with the digital in
ways that still emphasize humanity.”
Sometimes, such as with Dr. Zimmerman’s group,
Screen is more what has been called“blended,” a sort
of use-the-tools while whole-group idea that is more
consumer-oriented software tool use than it is content
delivery. It may be content discovery as part of a whole
group exercise. Arrival at such a robust coverage model
is a long ways off for some schools.
Stage 2 — Remodeling the existing classrooms and
spaces. This may mean new furniture and beanbags and
video-conferencing table space and more. It may mean
robotics labs with robot war rooms. It may mean video
editing bays. There may be traffic-control boards just
like you might see in an airport, telling kids what room
they are in, and cubicles for solo work and libraries with
project space.
Stage 3 — Rip and Replace or build new. This is
where new concepts like“social-emotional spaces” and
“quiet rooms” and“daylighting” come in. The future
predicted by the Learning Counsel is a sort of“Expo”
oriented learning center, a place that is shared but not
totally compartmentalized, more like an exposition-
of-learning that is high-engagement and high style.
It is how schools will win students to attend when
completely online education is an option nearly
everywhere. Schools are already starting this, with floor-
to-floor slides and fabulous cafeterias, commercial-grade
professional software studios and maker-spaces.
As a final note, to make all these changes possible, it
takes the backbone of a network infrastructure that
can manage this new vision for learning environments.
AT&T’s Josh Goodell spoke to this point when he was
introducing AT&T’s Network on Demand portfolio
“[It] gives customers more control of their network, the
ability to rapidly scale up or scale down their network,
and improves TCO [Total Cost of Ownership], not
just because you have the ability to use exactly what you
want, but also because you can be more productive. You
can spin up a location more rapidly than you could have
in the past.”
Through all of these stages, your mission: to explore the
new world of learning spaces, to bravely go where school
sustainability must inevitably go to synchronize with the
rest of the economy in its experience orientation.

How It’s Not The Same as These
Other Digital Models:
Blended Learning is a broad definition pertaining
to doing both in-person and online learning in a mix
customized for a class by a teacher. Also called hybrid
learning and mixed-mode. It assumes a teacher.
Online Learning, a.k.a. eLearning may be a part of
a course syllabus or the entire course, but it generally
assumes a course context, not a single-object or discrete
knowledge lesson as Screen Learning can do. It may be
from an outside institution or entity as a requirement for
part or all of a larger learning journey such as Udemy,
Coursera or Khan Academy course while attending a
K-12 school.
Distance Learning assumes geographic distance be-
tween the teacher and learner, and assumes a teacher-led
model.
Flipped Learning assumes a physical environment
locus and is a teacher-led model.
Individualized Learning assumes teacher inter-
position within the learning inclusive of levels allowed
into within the software. This is a trait of some Screen
Learning.
Personalized Learning assumes self-direction,
which is a trait of Screen Learning but teachers can also
interpose as guides by individualizing the software view.
Definitions:
Screen Learning: Learning built for the computing
screen to deliver content for a user with fancy digital
aspects. It doesn’t necessarily use or fully replace a
teacher, but could be used in a classroom or outside of
it as an individual learning object or full courseware for
mastery of the content. Screen Learning assumes an
“objectized” or“chunked” view of subjects and topics
much like a single video, short-form game (“gamelet”) or
App might be on the history of the Gettysburg Address
by Abraham Lincoln versus a whole course on the Civil
War or America’s Founding Fathers.
Screen Learning Time: Refers to the classroom
time dedicated to the use of Screen Learning of digital
curriculum, content or courseware on devices.

Common learning spaces at Buckingham County
Primary and Elementary Schools, Dillwyn, Virginia
Exploring Space:
The Final Frontier
If happiness, in large measure, is determined by personal confidence in one’s ability to
reach their potential, then we must ask ourselves,“are we as educators doing everything
to instill confidence?” Let’s use that as the launch point to discuss the redesign of today’s
schools and the evolution of education.
The spaces and places in which children and young people learn have a profound effect
on how they feel about themselves, and therefore how confident they are. The space
affects how well they learn but also who they are and who they will be. A clean, upbeat
environment also helps teachers teach. So why aren’t schools designed like Disneyland
or the newest shops in the best neighborhoods, which have had enormous research
into capturing attention, creating interaction and accomplishing a great and, hopefully,
meaningful human experience?
Belief and budget: this Special Report takes aim at helping all leaders believe, and
budget should follow.

INew Frontier
If you happen to find yourself in conversation about the
shift in education, how to increase student engagement,
how to“transform” your class, know this: your peers
across virtually every state of the nation are having the
same talk. Steve Wentz, the CTO of Pasadena ISD
(TX) told the Learning Counsel:“We’re on the cusp of
seeing some huge differences in the education market.
It’s a hundred-year-old process that needs to be changed.
Turning this ship is difficult. Everybody is comfortable
with the old stuff. But don’t make changes and we’ll
become irrelevant.”
There can be no question we have a long way to go to
have all classrooms redesigned into flexible learning
spaces. It will take time, a change in the way we budget
and a lot of sweat from instructors and administrators
to accomplish this shift.
As educators, we identify critical thinking, creativity and
the ability to collaborate with others to solve problems
as some of the essential skills that learners need, but
rarely do teachers make notations of how the physical
environment should be laid out per each lesson plan to
support the learning objectives.
Meet Moje
Architect, Robert W. Moje, Founding Partner at
VMDO Architects in Virginia, has been involved
in the redesign of public and private schools for
forty years. That career has given him a deep
understanding of how spaces foster creativity,
productivity and communication and how
students obtain and retain knowledge.
“Space—it’s a critical component to helping shape and
form the learning experience and a key component in
my current main line of investigation,” states Robert.
“Spaces and places have an important aspect in shaping
mood and attitude. Research is catching up now with
the science which proves what anyone could always
observe—that their mood and attitude is one of the
most significant factors in a person’s ability to learn and
retain knowledge and develop their intellect.”
One of the important ways design impacts teaching is by
aiding instructors through the mechanics of the room
itself so they can adapt lessons around objectives.
Any educator would agree that if students recognize
direct connections between schoolwork and their
physical environment, their personal lives and the
world around them, academic engagement rises.
Principal Erin Russo of Discovery Elementary, a
VMDO designed public school in the Arlington
(VA) Public School District, spoke directly to this
factor:“With this space we can really get creative and
experiment and generate really meaningful experiences
for the students. We as instructors now focus on
how students learn and how we can enhance those
meaningful experiences with the spaces themselves.”
Industrial Flaw
Science is now telling us what teachers have always
known: that individuals learn at different speeds and
different levels and want to know all types of different
things. The firehose approach to whole classroom
teaching was tragically flawed within the Industrial Age
models of school construction.
“That current classroom model, as science in education is
proving, is pretty flawed,” said Moje.“What we’ve found
is that a school ought to look a heck of a lot more like a
Starbucks. It ought to look a lot more like a Discovery
Museum. It ought to look more like a scene shop for a
Broadway production or a movie set. It ought to have all
sorts of tools and resources available when the students
want them and need them and have all kinds of different
spaces. Open spaces, discrete spaces so that they are
appropriate for the activities that happen in the course
of the day.”
Technology now gives us, logistically, the opportunity
to deliver individually-paced learning to any student for
what they’re curious about and what they want to learn.
We’ve just scratched the surface of what’s possible, but
now there is no argument that that possibility is there
for truly individualized learning.
In that regard, Kurt Madden of Fresno Unified, who
has 73,000 students under his charge, talked to the
Learning Counsel about his team’s recognition 9 years
ago that technology was going to change the way we
teach.“We’ve been teaching with paper and pencil for a
couple hundred years. Now we are in this big shift. It’s
We must ask ourselves how
design impacts teaching by virtue of the
mechanics of the space itself.
■■ Can the walls move and shift to
facilitate a lesson, video or group
activity?
■■ Does the furniture adjust for reading
or slide for a demonstration?
■■ Can the students freely draw or write
on walls or tables?
■■ Does the space lend itself to
instructors developing assignments
that include real-world situations and
have projects that are collaborative
by nature and hopefully even
culturally relevant?

At Arlington Discovery Elementary School
in Virginia careful attention was given
to every nook and space for a seamless
integration between design and learning.
Sound baffles in the ceiling, lighting and
furniture is arranged in balance between
sustainability and how kids want to be while
they gain and retain knowledge.
“With this space we can
really get creative and
experiment and generate
really meaningful experiences
for the students. We, as
instructors, now focus on how
students learn and how we
can enhance those meaningful
experiences with the spaces
themselves.”
—Erin Russo
Principal
Discovery Elementary
going to be easy. But you need to work through
the integration. The role of teachers in this is
going to change. Kids are going to be learning on
their own paths with these tools. Consider how
you, as an adult like to learn something: you try it,
you fail, you look to someone with experience as a
guide so you can find your path, and keep working
at it. Teachers will need to be more like personal
trainers, like coaches.”
Tactics
When getting into a conversation about
redesigning a school, budgets are the pain point of
any Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent.
Often the question is, does it require new funding
sources or a change in budget priorities? The
answer is always that what is most required is a
change in mindset.
Taking one of Virginia’s worst performing school
systems and flipping it to become one of the top
was a gold star in Robert Moje’s career.“Many
years back when the state of Virginia passed SOL
(Standards of Learning) requirements, the State
Department went in and looked at this particular
school – Manassas Park City Schools – and told
them there is no way this demographic, this group
is ever going to make it, you should just go out of
business (as a City) and they should just dissolve
the whole thing and become part of the county.
They said,‘We can mix you up with some more
wealthy areas and that’s your only path’.”
© VMDO Architects
© VMDO Architects

As Moje tells it, the school district was determined
and wouldn’t agree, and bravely went on anyway with
dramatic remodel plans. The district worked with
engineers and architects and planners for five years
to complete the first school. Over a period of sixteen
years the district doubled their square-footage and
remodeled every square foot.
“With a lot of planning, and lot of budgeting and
cutting and reallocating, they built their district to be
twice as big as it used to be,” stated Moje.“Nobody
wanted to live there and, after some success, it became
one of the more popular places to live because their
school system was so good.”
Manassas City Schools went from a school population
where only 27% of the students went on to anything—
college, career, military—to 85% of graduates going on
to college or career.
It is possible to make those kinds of changes and in
Moje’s view,“It’s mostly by changing culture and an
understanding of what’s possible.”
Discovery Elementary, Arlington,
Virginia: Building a Place of Joy
Learning should be joyful. The Discovery Elementary
“net-zero” public school in Arlington, Virginia, was
envisioned to be a hundred percent sustainable campus
that was a place of joy for kids to learn. It opened in
September of 2015, after breaking ground in March of
2013. It is 98,000 square feet and designed to serve 630
pre-K through 5th grade students.
Moje, who was the project leader, said that the spaces
are proof that kids can learn in an environment that
is inviting and encourages joy in engagement.“If we
can get the children to be happy and joyful, just to be
there while they are learning, then 95% of the effort of
getting them engaged will be taken care of.”
Part of the feedback that exemplified how the school
spaces are achieving their goal has been that“The
Principal had the administrator over attendance come
up to her one day and she told her,‘Look, Johnnie got
picked up by his mother to go to the Orthodontist at
2:00. He came back at 2:45. School ends at 3:15.’ He
insisted to his mother that he had to get back to school
because he wanted to be there at the end of the day and
for whatever little activity was left because that’s a place
of joy for him, excitement for him,” said Moje.
Moje recommends that schools consider how they
would create a place of joy from a child’s point of view,
and that is how VMDO has seen the most success.
“Everything about the building and grounds were
themed,” said Moje.“The pre-school is the back yard,
the middle school starts with fields and forests, then
you have the ocean and eventually the atmosphere, the
galaxy and the universe beyond. Interestingly, during
our initial research, John Glenn, from Ohio – one of
the U.S. Astronauts – had lived right across the street
from this site and had trained for Friendship 7, the
first man in space, by running around the site. So that’s
© VMDO Architects © VMDO Architects
Learning spaces at Buckingham County Schools

where the name Discovery comes from.
His last flight was on the Space Shuttle
‘Discovery’, so‘Discovering the Joy of
Learning’ is the long name of that school.”
Buckingham County
Primary and Elementary
Schools: Revived from Total
Lost Cause
Buckingham County Primary and
Elementary Schools is another example
of a campus which was redesigned
from the ground up to change the
paradigm of how teaching and learning
happens. Buckingham County was
in fact considered a lost cause. Their
leadership was told they were going to be
consolidated into another larger district.
They would lose all identity. They had five
elementary schools and they were all old
and worn out. Doing anything but closing
some of their schools and bringing others
into another system seemed the only
solution as every other option was
too expensive.
A new Superintendent came in and
decided he was going to do something
different. He started with what had been
an old African American K-8 school/
High School side-by-side that they had
abandoned, mostly because of perception
and their history. He pulled his engineers
and architects in and asked them what
they could do. The buildings were not
great but they were empty and work
could start, so that kept certain costs low.
The design team created a total learning
environment in order to support learning
both inside and outside the traditional
classroom. It was a ground-up change. It
didn’t have to be expensive, but it had to
change so that the families around could
believe the school has new potential.
Now at Buckingham, each grade level
enjoys age-appropriate outdoor gardens
and play terraces, which encourage
children to re-connect and spend time
in their natural surroundings. Inside the
schools, in addition to core classrooms,
each grade level has small group learning
spaces that transform circulation
pathways into child-centric“learning
streets.” These spaces are intimately
scaled with soft seating and fun colors
that communicate both collaborative and
shared learning experiences.
“When Buckingham was reopened in
September of 2012, the community
poured in and parents and students were
there and you heard kids looking up at
their parents and saying,‘Can we stay
here, can I live here, can I sleep here every
night?’” said Moje.
Further Exploration
Tens of thousands of schools out across
the world still have their existing buildings
and infrastructure from thirty years ago,
some even from a hundred years ago. It
will be difficult but some schools are
making it happen“in place.”
Take for example, Alexandria Country
Day School (ACDS) in Virginia.
Constructed in 1943 and originally a
Catholic girls school, ACDS’s schoolhouse
has been improved and modernized in
a way that retains the spirit and warmth
of the old, yet has inserted into it a very
modern, flexible and responsive approach
to teaching and learning. Central to the
classroom re-design are mobile adjustable
standing desks from Ergotron, called
“LearnFit” desks, which allow for both
student personalization and teacher
flexibility.
ACDS consulted with Dr. Ellen Fisher
of the New York School of Interior
Design, to transform the classrooms while
maintaining the original classic look of
the buildings. She stated,“Our goal was to
© VMDO Architects © VMDO Architects

—
achieve less-specific and more multi-use
learning spaces that are purposeful today
and flexible for the ever-evolving pedagogy
of tomorrow.”
Bob Hill, Ergotron’s Education Manager,
concurs,“The physical classroom itself
plays a significant role in realizing the
promise of 1:1 devices and personalized
learning tools, and classroom furniture
must keep pace with technology and
students’ varied learning styles. Student
desks need to promote better metabolic
learnstyles, greater student engagement
and natural collaboration.”
A growing body of research shows that
there are metabolic health benefits to
introducing standing into the classroom,
which are exhibited in the form of greater
student engagement and on-task behavior,
which has a positive impact on
academic performance.
Some tips for
any “remodeler”:
Good acoustics, mobile, indestructible
and bright furnishings, casual and center-
stage type interaction and isolation spaces.
There should be different sized places
for different groups to interact. There
should be places for storage and material,
for continuing art projects or robotics
or maker-space activities. There should
be rooms allocated so that materials
can be left out for long periods of time.
There should be nooks and corners to
read. There should be lots of light. There
should be spaces to experience nature.
“Just think if we flipped those statistics
of 60-70% of kids who are absolutely
bored out of their minds,” said Moje.
“What if we had those kids absolutely
engaged and creatively using everything
we have available for them because we
accomplished this transformation
of education?”
“What if we had those kids absolutely engaged
and creatively using everything we have
available for them because we accomplished this
transformation of education?”
—Robert W. Moje
Founding Partner, VMDO Architects
Alexandria Country
Day School (ACDS)
brought in Dr. Ellen
Fisher of the New York
School of Interior Design
to assist in modernizing
their classrooms while
maintaining the classic
architecture of the
original buildings.
LC
© VMDO Architects
© VMDO Architects

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Layout Options for the Remodel
Independent study – cubicles
Similar to a single desk configuration for independent
study and useful for middle and high schools when
full individualized learning is in use. Similar to typical
businesses of today, these can be high or low-walled or
simple carrels taking up limited space. Career readiness
and high school intervention are typical applications.
Meeting room
Boardroom looking meeting spaces for small or
large groups, typically equipped with projection and
whiteboards that are interactive or not.
Divided setting, pairs
A section of one room that has pair-up desks or tables,
ideally mobile with wheels, that can be configured into
working pair-ups.
Divided setting, teams
Same as Pairs except larger separate configuration of
desks or tables.
Divided setting, project based
A section of one room that has a project orientation
with larger table space and may be ideally suited for
art/maker/robotics projects with specialized impact
resistant surfaces.
Divided setting, advisory
A particular type of one-on-one setting using teacher
desk and student chair, desk or table; student-and-
student desk or table in a sectioned off area; half-moon
table for multiple students working in a group while
teacher leads or oversees that dialog or work. Flat
screen monitors commonly included in configuration
for group viewing.
Divided setting,
multi-use soft
seating spaces
Set up for working-while-lounging
such as beanbag chairs and plush
carpets to lay around on while
reading from books or tablets,
couches or poufs and some side
tables for having an informal
chat about a project. Common
for elementary grades for
“reading” periods.
These definitions by the Learning Counsel
describe some of the settings as they vary
from schools-of-old. Many are adaptable
within existing schools and some can
be part of actual structural remodels to
provide new spaces designed in new ways.
Single-setting whole group
A space with desks or seats all face-forward with
teacher as the central delivery point via lecture
with some illustrative content points in analog or
digital chunks. Usually podium or teacher desk
and blackboard/regular or interactive whiteboard/
projection and television for video clips. Setting
does not lend itself to rearrangement, desks may
even be bolted down.
Single-setting whole group
interactive with multiple
delivery modes
Same as the above except technology is taking
center stage as the delivery mechanism, teacher is
directing attention mostly to outside sources (video,
projection, courseware,Apps) not predominately
lecture. Students may also be called on to use
technology such as calculating on-the-fly or
look-ups. Technology may include all or some of
the students on computing devices with dynamic
interaction during whole group lessons. If
computing,Teacher’s device may lock-screen on
all other devices and force attention to one source,
and that one source may be on Teacher tablet and/
or projected to large screen. This is typically what
is known as“blended learning.” Typically one
arrangement of desks or chairs in any configuration,
face-forward rows, rounds, horse-shoe, or
giant circle.
Single-setting stadium
Same as Single-Setting Whole Group or
Interactive above except totally stationary and
set up with riser rows. Typically extra-large
and requires super-sized screens and voice
amplification for any lecture or digital source.
Common configuration in universities. Atypical
for K-12.
Independent study desks
The single desk configuration is for independent
study when students need to focus on their own
projects, especially for taking tests.
© MooreCo, Inc.

Divided setting or separate room, lab
Maker spaces with access to technology.Typically high
tables with power and tops with specialized high impact
surfaces and mess resiliency for science or art work. May
be in-room with other settings or a stand-alone dedicated
room for lab work. May be a robotics or virtual lab for
tools from such companies as RobotLAB, Lego and the
acclaimed Dash and Dot from Wonder Workshop.
Divided setting or separate room, studio
For video or sound editing, having specialized audio/
visual equipment and potentially a theatrical space preset
for video backgrounds/green screen.
Divided setting or separate room, arts
For music creation or arts work, having specialized
equipment and table or desk settings and potentially an
orchestral seating with risers.
Divided setting, intensive computing
This type of space used to be known as a computing lab,
but now is a separate space typically with computers with
high speed graphics cards for rapid rendering capability
for graphics art, video and more.
Divided setting, manipulatives
An area in a classroom set up for individuals to play with
or use objects such as blocks and toys, mini-whiteboards,
interactive whiteboards, robotics; a dedicated editing
computer, a dedicated distance-learning computer with
headset such as those used for speech therapy lessons
online (such as for programs like PresenceLearning);
a set of manipulative objects that interact with the
computers including shapes and science equipment that
may be used also in Labs such as Tiggly, OSMO and
other more
sophisticated
lab equipment
that can connect
to computers for
analysis.
Divided setting, quiet space
A separate space that may be in-class and semi-walled-off
or an entire separate room for students to escape to or be
assigned to. May contain work desk or lounge setting and
be a subdued lighting space that is extra quiet.
Divided setting, communications space
A separate space that may be in-class as a video-
conferencing table for external communications, or a
phone-booth like space for students and teachers to visit
to make external calls in private that could contain a
power outlet and desk and chair.
Divided setting, small or large group
social emotional circle
Smaller more subdued spaces containing a circle of chairs
for group discussions.
In addition to the above list for the redesign
of existing schools and classroom spaces, there are many
other spaces within school grounds to be included in the
complete redesign of teaching and learning environments.
Spaces to consider in this regard would include:
Niches within corridors and
circulation spaces
These make for ideal spaces for students to engage with
technology and each other, where they can see and be
seen in conjunction with other educational activities.
Commons, or areas within common
spaces, including views to outside
and nature
This could include window seats, lobbies, any area that
would allow students to simultaneously work and enjoy
the benefits that viewing nature has on the student.
Lofts or balcony overlook spaces
Allowing students to work in different size groups while
still being specially and visually connected to their
teachers and classmates.
Outside play space
Play is essential and the outside spaces of education
institutions are widely recognized to be vital in the
transformation of teaching and learning. These spaces
include synthetic grass and other soft surfaces, as well as
writable art walls with non-toxic paint or other markers
for creative expression.
© MooreCo, Inc.

Spotlights on
Successful Transformation
When curriculum lives in the cloud
and every student has a mobile device,
learning can happen in environments
that range from the high-tech to the
laid-back. Schools on a budget are even
repurposing old furniture into new
shapes and configurations. Architects
and school leadership are breaking
down walls, opening ceilings for sunlight,
changing colors, adding sound baffles,
writing on walls and encouraging
transparency (as in clear partitions).
Let’s look at how educators are
combining hardware, software, and
creative design to personalize learning
for today’s digital natives.
Ithaca City Schools:
Supporting a “Thinking”
Strategy
Dr. Luvelle Brown is the Superintendent
at Ithaca City School District in upstate
New York. He’s been to the White House
and was named as one of the nation’s most
“tech savvy” school superintendents in 2014.
But his strategy is far from the“techie” that
you might expect. The focus in his district
is building thinkers. He asks the question
of his school leaders and instructors,“How
do we educate in 2016 to engage, educate
and empower so as to create thinkers?” His
question naturally lead to the conversation
about technology and the evolution of
the classroom.
“As we talked about how to do this, how to
promote skills like collaboration, problem-
solving, creating and analyzing, it required
us to change the spaces,” said Brown.“We
have many spaces now with writeable walls,
writeable desktops, and flexible seating
options. Kids are not sitting in rows in desks
and chairs anymore, they’re sitting in flexible
seats, seats that move, tables that transition.”
In Ithaca schools you’ll see students creating
on walls, they’re working in digital spaces,
using digital tools and mobile devices. “The
color, the look, the feel can be shocking at
times,” said Brown.“For the teachers who
were very successful in the school district
many years ago to come back and see it now,
they wonder‘Wow, that’s not the place that
I went, where I was so successful. It looks
Transitioning to digital curriculum launches districts and schools
into the redesign of the classroom

very different now’ and the conversation has
been about how to be comfortable with it looking
so different.”
Dr. Brown has talked with architects about the
design of schools and discussed the common
trends that are now the expected: sun lighting,
how the sound is being handled with baffling
systems, the look, the feel and color, all of which
promote learning. But beyond the architects
they also surveyed their students and teachers
to inform them of what they feel the spaces
should look like and without spending a lot of
money. They’ve used the latest furniture and
Idea Paint but it’s not only new materials.“We
even repurposed old furniture,” said Brown.“The
kids will make their own chair or desk in a shop.
And we’ve bought hundreds of yoga balls for
classrooms. It’s more about the pedagogy. How
we want to shift the teaching/learning process
and then it’s the tools, i.e., the mobile device or
the table or chair, which support that. And we’ve
had that conversation again with architects and
they’ve been helpful in helping us design these
spaces with all this taken into consideration.”
Ascension Public Schools:
Mirroring Success
At Lake Elementary School, part of Lousiana’s
Ascension Public Schools, Morgan Hutchinson’s
6th-grade social studies classes are totally
techified. Each of her students has an iPad, and
Classflow software connects all of the tablets
to a Promethean ActivWall, a 102-inch wide
interactive learning system that makes your usual
whiteboard look like a Post-It note.
You might think that having such so many screens
in the classroom would leave students isolated
in their own little worlds, but Hutchinson says
that the effect is just the opposite. Her classroom
“allows for constant interaction and assessment
of my students. Grouping, polling, on-the-fly
assessments that you can send to certain or all
students. It definitely keeps the kids on their toes.”
Writable desks, walls, and digital
whiteboards increase engagement
with group work and problem solving
at Ithaca City School District in
upstate New York.

Each day, a randomly chosen
student becomes the “teacher”
who calls on students to mirror
their work on the board for the
class to discuss.
Hutchinson most often uses the Mirroring feature,
which allows students to share their screens to the
ActivWall. She explained,“If I were to ask the students
a document-based question with the text and question
on the board, when the students submit their answers I
can choose a strong model to share with the class simply
by allowing that student to mirror their response.”And,
she added,“Interactive activities and assessments can be
delivered and graded in real time, throughout the lesson.
As educators we know time is not usually on our side, so
these quick tools of assessment are a huge help.”
At Dutchtown Middle School, also in Ascension Parish,
Glenda Mora uses a similar set-up to teach 8th-grade
math. She’s never the only one teaching in her classroom,
though. Thanks to the tech infrastructure at their
fingertips, she said,“The students are the ones running
the class.” Each day, a randomly chosen student becomes
the“teacher” who calls on students to mirror their work
on the board for the class to discuss. Mora said her
students have“become accustomed to sharing their
work, whether they think it is right or wrong. Because if
it is wrong, they know they will get feedback that will be
meaningful to them.”
The network of connected screens also allows Mora
to“see my students’ thinking in an instant, which lends
itself beautifully to math problems.” She recalled a
recent assignment on the Pythagorean theorem. One
student used the Mirroring feature and“sent up a video
of her working out the problem and also her‘thinking’
while she was working. She said things like,‘When I
read that the farmer had to go through the field, I knew
that meant that route was the hypotenuse and it would
be c in my equation.’ She taught the class for me that
day. In an instant, the others knew how to solve the
problem but most importantly, how to think about
solving the problem.”
Connects Learning Center:
A “Home Away From Home”
For Stacey Adamczyk, the lead teacher at Wisconsin’s
Connects Learning Center (CLC), a four-district
consortium alternative high school for youth at risk,
“Creating the right learning spaces for these students to
thrive in has been an integral element to our students’
success.” The school started with students sitting at
desks, but with no assigned seating.
Through trial and error, CLC’s learning spaces evolved
to become less like traditional classrooms and more
like a“home away from home,” according to Adamczyk.
Wisconsin’s Connects Learning Center (CLC) classrooms evolved
to become less like traditional classrooms and more
like a “home away from home” with comfortable lounge-style
movable furniture, which is also conducive to collaboration.

“Much like college, our learning spaces are filled with
comfy couches, chairs, and lounge furniture for student
use, as well as areas conducive to collaboration.” These
shared spaces create a sense of community and give
CLC’s students“the feeling that they are not alone, that
they belong.”
Using cloud-based curriculum from Odysseyware, CLC
couples its non-traditional spaces with a non-traditional
daily schedule.“We operate two three-hour sessions
per day,” said Adamczyk,“with 80% of student time
being spent working individually online. Thanks to the
flexibility of Odysseyware, our teachers are able to create
and customize online courses and content based on
students’ individual needs.”
Courses focus on applied knowledge,creative problem-
solving,and decision-making.The synergy of software and
space,Adamczyk said,“allows our students to find their
ideal spot for learning,and to learn at their own pace.”
The digital transformation of Des Plaines School
District 62 (IL) started with a question:“How much
collaboration can truly be done in a traditional
classroom, with its rigid rows of desks and chairs?”
According to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jan Rashid,
seeking an answer to this question led district leaders
to envision their classroom of the future.“We dreamed
of creating open and colorful spaces equipped with
ergonomic furniture, breakout rooms, and the equal
opportunity to use the newest technology. We also
wanted spaces to bridge the gap between the traditional
library and the technology-filled classroom.”
To make that dream a reality, the district, which includes
eleven schools (one K-8, two middle schools, and eight
elementary schools) created a five-year master plan to
transform one room in each of its schools into what it
calls Technology Integrated Learning Environments, or
TILE spaces. The TILE rooms are“living laboratories”
In Des Plaines School District 62 in Illinois
they launched a program to transform one
classroom in each of their schools into what
they deemed, “Technology Integrated Learning
Environments,” or TILE spaces. The goal
is equity for all, teaching students digital
literacy and giving them the ability to engage
and collaborate using the newest technology
available.

where each teacher and student has equal opportunity
to engage and collaborate using the newest technology
available.
Walk into a TILE space and you’ll see two interactive
whiteboards, tablet computers, floor-to-ceiling marker
boards, and tackable walls to inspire creative thinking
and collaboration sessions. Wherever possible, the
district used glass walls to let in natural light and
created breakout spaces where students can work in
small groups. Each room is also equipped with colorful,
versatile, and mobile furniture such as ergonomically
correct chairs that have been shown to improve
cognitive engagement.
To make sure that Des Plaines’ students are making
proper use of all the online learning materials at their
disposal, the district emphasizes digital literacy.“As
students and teachers transition from paperback books
and encyclopedias to online resources, we’ve discovered
digital literacy doesn’t come naturally,” said Rashid.“Our
media specialists and teachers use a co-teaching/co-
planning model to serve our digital natives and teach
digital literacy.”
To help students fine-tune their digital literacy skills,
the district equips them with an entire library in their
backpacks. With myON, a digital literacy environment
offering more than 10,000 books, Rashid said,“We
harnessed the power of the digital library by creating
and sharing digital bookshelves on diverse topics and at
various Lexile levels.”
The transition to digital in today’s classrooms provides
more opportunities than ever to individualize learning
opportunities for every student.“We know that learning
occurs wherever and whenever our children happen
to be – and if we want to help guide that learning we
need to be there, virtually or in person,” said Todd
Brekhus, President of myON.“Digital technologies like
those that underpin the myON personalized literacy
environment offer guidance along with choice. Children
take ownership over their reading, becoming vested in
learning to read, so they can cultivate a habit of reading
to learn that lasts a lifetime.”
The next phase of Des Plaines high-tech makeover is to
create“green rooms” where students can collaborate on
the creation, recording, and editing of videos. A green
room opened in one school this year and more are in the
works, but Rashid’s vision goes beyond mere physical
spaces. She wants to update not just spaces, but thinking.
“Shifting the thoughts of administration, teachers, and
students into the future will better prepare students
for their future as learners who carry these skills into
their professional lives and eventually go on to mold the
future of technology use.”
“Shifting the thoughts of
administration, teachers, and
students into the future will
better prepare students for
their future as learners who
carry these skills into their
professional lives and eventually
go on to mold the future of
technology use.”
—Dr. Jan Rachid
Des Plaines School District 62 (IL)
LC

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Reading
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Textbooks
budget-friendly stays current customizable
X X X
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Curriculum
— — —
Open Educational
Resources
√ — —
Curriculum Foundry
Progression of Digital Curriculum Adoption for School Districts
FUTURE
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Does your school or district want to transition away from expensive textbooks that quickly become outdated,
and move towards adopting digital content that is more flexible? Curriculum Foundry is a complete curriculum
management system that can help your district achieve its digital content adoption goals.
· Incorporate your district’s existing library of e-books and licensed digital curriculum from day one.
· Access a vetted repository of standards-aligned OER to begin replacing more expensive resources.
· Move towards a fully district-authored curriculum at your own pace, with support from a team of
Learning.com educators.
To learn more, visit: www.learning.com/cf-info.

The Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion Events, held
in 30 cities nationally, is where the Learning Counsel
hears from leaders who are making the transformation
happen all over the U.S.
One aspect during this year which has been particularly
exciting and inspiring is the number of new teams
and the cross-departmental collaboration attending
the Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion events
from Districts. Those old departmental silos between
senior Administrators, the curriculum department
and academics leaders and the IT side are no longer
strategically viable in isolation. Technology is directly
impacting teaching and learning. IT departments have a
large say in the shift forward and they need to appreciate
their new position.
As Lenny Schad, the Chief Information and Technology
Officer for Houston ISD put it,“You get your seat at
the table and that seat is not guaranteed, you have to
keep that seat every single day and the way that you
keep it is by positively impacting teaching and learning.
In fact, it’s above and beyond even that—you need to
redefine ways in which you’re improving and making
more efficient, the teaching and learning process, which
is what I’m most excited about in this arena. Right now
we’re providing a laptop, providing a good network,
providing electronic textbooks; that is exciting and that
is a game changer, but that’s the tip of the iceberg.”
With this new trend of cross-departmental collaboration
and a lot of new hires over curriculum supervision,
Superintendents have been showing up in scores of cities
with their cabinet—to ensure every individual invested
in the transformation gained the information to make
informed decisions.
About a recent event, Superintendent Eric Godfrey of
Buckeye Union High School District in Arizona said,
“It was a great opportunity to stretch vision, develop
your 1:1 initiative and learn about resources and network
with vendors. It becomes an (even greater) opportunity
when school districts come in teams because in addition
to the information present, the team spends the day
collaborating and idea-sharing which develops a shared
responsibility in creating a digitally enhanced educational
environment to improve instruction and learning.”
“At every event we see how educators, along with
industry experts, work together to enhance the creative
construction of digital learning resources,” stated Dr.
David Kafitz“The shift isn’t going to happen from only
educators pushing it, or just the industry side coming up
with the next nifty thing. It’s going to be a collaborative
activity. We see this happening in every city.”
We are excited to share with you here, just a few of the
pictures with our friends from the first half of 2016 as
the whole“Remodel” of digital transition is underway.
Remodeling Nationwide
On tour with the Learning Counsel as we discuss
the tactics to shift teaching and learning
LeiLani Cauthen,
CEO of the Learning
Counsel, speaking at the
New Jersey Innovation
Summit 2016.

“Thank you for your hard work in putting
this event together. It was a rewarding
experience for me and my colleagues.
I personally appreciate your support of
this long journey we're making through
the digital learning environment.
Thanks again."
—Leng Fritsche, Ph.D.
Assistant Superintendent, Student Assessment
Houston ISD
Right: LeiLani interviewing
Superintendent of Baltimore County Public
Schools, Dr. Dallas Dance, about his
district’s transition to digital curriculum.
Below: Panel discussion at New Jersey
Innovation Summit with Dan Alston,
Dr. Marc Natanagara, Ted Panagopoulos
and Joshua Koen.
Right: San Bernardino County Superintendent,
Ted Alejandre, speaking at the San Bernardino
Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion.
Above : Team digital curriculum exercises to develop curriculum
coverage based on standards, platforms, security and cost

Above: Superintendent panel at Phoenix Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion:—
Micheal Wright, Superintendent of Blue Ridge Unified School District #32;
Eric Godfrey, Superintendent of Buckeye Union High School District and
Dr. Darwin Stiffler, Superintendent of Yuma Elementary School District One
Above: Bradley Leon, Chief of Innovation and Strategy at Shelby
County Schools speaks on the panel at the Memphis Digital
Curriculum Tactics Discussion.
Right: Proclamation from the Mayor of Houston
presented to the Learning Counsel and all Houston Area school districts for their dedication to bringing digital equity to all our students; L-R: Steve
Wentz, CTO of Pasadena USD; Tom Yarbrough of Huawei; LeiLani Cauthen and Dr. David Kafitz of the Learning Counsel; Dr. Juliet Stipeche
from the Office of the Mayor; Dr. Andrew Houlihan, CAO of Houston ISD; and Lenny Schad, CTIO of Houston ISD
Below: LeiLani Cauthen with the awesomely engaged
team from Little Rock School District (AR) at the
Memphis Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion
Above: LeiLani with Dr. Darryl Adams,
Superintendent of Coachella Valley Unified School District,
at summit in San Diego

Above: Rudy Gomez, District Technology Services
Supervisor, and Linda Ashida, Coordinator of
Innovative Teaching and Learning, both from High
School District 214, work together at the Chicago
Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion.
Right: Kimberley Harrington, Chief Academic officer
of the New Jersey Department of Education welcoming
over 300 attendees to the New Jersey Innovation
Summit 2016.
Above: Dr. David Kafitz moderating the student panel
at the New Jersey Innovation Summit.
Above: Mr. David Bezzant with a student panel from Renton
Prep at the Seattle Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion, hosted
at T-Mobile Headquarters
Above: Atlanta Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion panel with Dr. David
Kafitz, Jay Heap, Director of Virtual Learning at the Georgia Department of
Education; Chris Ragsdale, Superintendent of Cobb County School District;
Keith George, Education Specialist at the Alabama Department of Education
and Tricia Kennedy, Executive Director of eCLASS Transformation at
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Above: LeiLani telling secrets to Sue Gott, CTO of the San
Bernardino County Superintendent’s office during an exercise
at their Digital Curriculum Tactics Discussion.

Core Clicks is the close reading program no student can resist!
Completelyweb-based,thisK–5programcombinesshortinformational
texts with captivating digital features to build the close reading skills
required by rigorous academic standards. It also provides digital test-
taking practice with performance-based assessments and tracking and
reporting tools.
Learn more at www.scholastic.com/coreclicks.
Meerkat is a real-time, mobile application based communication
platform enabling schools to communicate time-sensitive information
to subscribers. The many features keep parents, students, and faculty
safer and more informed. Additionally, schools have the ability to
generate over $15K per year in sponsorship revenue.
For more information, visit www.meerkatalerts.com.
Fall 2016 Events
Sep 13 Tampa, FL
Sep 15 Denver, CO
Sep 20 Indianapolis, IN
Sep 22 New York City, NY
Sep 27 Portland, OR
Sep 29 Dallas, TX
Oct 6 Wichita, KS
Oct 11 Washington DC
Oct 13 Dover, MA
Oct 18 Sacramento, CA
Nov 1 San Diego, CA
Nov 3 Palo Alto, CA
Nov14-15 National Gathering
Orlando, FL
2017 Events
Jan 19 Seattle, WA
Jan 31 Atlanta, GA
Feb 2 Charlotte, NC
Feb 16 Memphis, TN
Feb 23 Philadelphia, PA
Feb 28 Los Angeles, CA
Mar 2 Phoenix, AZ
Mar 9 Minneapolis, MN
Mar 14 Columbus, OH
Mar 21 San Antonio, TX
Mar 23 Richmond, VA
Mar 28 Chicago, IL
Mar 30 Houston, TX
Sep 12 San Diego, CA
Sep 14 Denver, CO
Sep 19 Indianapolis, IN
Sep 26 Tampa, FL
Sep 28 New York City, Long Island
Oct 3 Portland, OR
Oct 5 Dallas, TX
Oct 10 St. Louis, MO
Oct 17 Boston Area
Oct 19 Washington DC
Oct 24 Sacramento
Oct 26 San Francisco Bay Area
Nov 6-7 National Gathering
Las Vegas, NV
(Dates Subject to Change)
Join The Learning Counsel in a City Near You
2016-2017 Digital Curriculum Discussion Meetings
the Learning Counsel ▪ 3636 Auburn Blvd ▪ Sacramento, CA 95821 ▪ 888.611.7709 ▪ www.thelearningcounsel.com
2016 Digital Curriculum Strategy
Survey and Assessment Tool
Research & Context on the
Shift to Digital Curriculum
The Learning Counsel is providing this assessent tool for use to
K-12 educators about digital curricum strategies. Ten finalists
from the survey responses will be selected to join us at the National
Gathering Event and Awards Ceremony in November.
Go to www.thelearningcounsel.com/2016-survey

nowStory
The Story of What You Know
Knowstory is the place to make your company’s or
school’s story known. If you have a place to learn or
something to know, create a profile and list every
product, piece of curriculum, or course or place. It’s
built for that.
If you’re a group of educators, here is where you
individually build a library list of what you have, or
that you made, and share it so your school has one
inventory to analyze. We call it “Invenstory.”
Knowstory is both a marketplace with analytics for
users of digital curriculum and a social media hub, with
an education purpose.
It’s not a school or a course or an App, but a place for
personal learning to find its path inside or outside of
schools, with anyone putting in any knowledge they
have crafted so we all can find it, and build on it.
Go ahead and put in your school, your team, your Apps,
websites, ebooks, games, lesson plans. And YOU.
Everyone has a story.
What’s yours?
KnowStory is a FREE new
social media platform for
everyone. Here is where you
discover the wide-range of
learning things and create
your life-long learning story.
For more information, visit www.KnowStory.com.

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