Henry County Schools

IN A LEAN DISTRICT OFFICE THAT SERVES AND SUPPORTS 50+ learning environments, nearly 4,000 educators, and over 42,000 learners, how do you rally everyone around a unifying vision? For Henry County Schools, the answer is simple—autonomy.

Even before exploring the idea of a learner-centered system, Henry County leadership has sought to provide every environment with the freedom to implement learning strategies based on the unique needs of their learners and community. This idea has allowed the vast majority of resources to be poured into the learning environments themselves, rather than the central office.

Starting from this structure, they were already in a mindset that focused on school empowerment rather than district empowerment. But, Henry County soon realized the need to establish a district vision for learner-centered learning. As the idea of personalized learning began permeating the conversations, district leaders started exploring what their philosophy would look like if learners were at the center (instead of schools). Once the wheels started turning, there was no stopping them.

In 2013, Henry County began building their broad vision for their shift to learner-centered learning. And, by the fall of 2015, the first cohort of learning environments began putting their community-driven, learner-focused plans into action.

Every environment was guided by five pillars created in an initial district visioning process—Learner Profiles, Competency-Based Learning, Authentic Learning, 21st-Century Skills, and Technology-Enabled. With learner-centered learning as the north star guiding the planning phase at individual environments, learner agency was quickly identified as key to the five pillars’ success. At every turn, difficult questions were quickly resolved when the learner became the focal point of the conversation and was seen as the owner of the learning process.

Central to every learner’s journey at Henry County Schools is their Learner Profile. From the first day of school to graduation, learners have a central profile that allows educators, parents, and the learner to review and update academic progress and learning interests, contributing to their co-created Personalized Learning Plans. This means learners can avoid doubling back on content already mastered because every educator has a clear picture of their unique learning needs.

As Henry County Schools continues to roll out their learner-centered initiative, they are aiming for all 50 environments to have made the shift by 2020. With each new cohort of environments, lessons learned are passed through the entire district to ensure continuous improvement. At Henry County Schools, learner-centered education is an endless, rewarding journey rather than a race to the finish line.