Mesa County Valley School District 51

THE BEGINNING OF A COMMUNITY’S LEARNER-CENTERED JOURNEY can oftentimes be traced back a decade or more before any visible signs of transformation can be found. Remarkable achievements that appear to have come from one or two years of diligent work, are actually the result of years of ideation, experimentation, and forward-moving iterations.

Mesa County Valley School District 51 is no exception. Though they may seem to be an overnight sensation, their story starts all the way back in 2006 when district leaders took action in shifting to a nascent form of personalized learning. They began creating multiple pathways for learning with their core strategy filtered down to a simple phrase: “Time is the variable; learning is the constant.”

In 2011, with the Department of Education’s support, Mesa County really began pushing the pedal to accelerate their district-wide transformation. Recognizing the vital importance of including the community in this transformational work, Mesa County leaders took community engagement to a whole new level. Already familiar with the learner-centered work happening in Lindsay, California, the district invested in a two-day trip so the entire school board, a local newspaper publisher, the director of the Chamber of Commerce, the director of a local economic development partnership, and members of the local university could fly out to Lindsay Uni ed School District and be firsthand witnesses to the power of learner-centered education.

Witnessing the joy, engagement, and maturity of Lindsay learners, the Mesa County community members wanted to implement learner-centered education across the entire district by the next academic year. Understanding the immense structural changes necessary, Superintendent Steve Schultz and his team suggested beginning their transformation with seven demonstration environments. They intentionally avoided calling them “pilots,” knowing this effort was more than a test. They wanted to make it clear they were all-in, rather than letting people infer this transformational process was only temporary.

In each environment, learners are engaged in a competency-based learning system where the pace of learning is adaptable to the needs of each child. Through their 16 Habits of Mind framework, there is an ardent focus on developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to cultivate lifelong learners. This includes creating a culture of learning that ensures a strong support system surrounds every learner and failure is viewed as a necessity in any learning experience.

Soon after the demonstration programs began, the leaders within every other environment in the district began asking when they too would have the opportunity to implement this new system of learning. Readying to answer the call, district leaders have formulated five phases of implementation they believe will provide smooth transitions across the district and bring learner-centered education to all 22,000 learners. Although the journey started out slowly over ten years ago, Mesa County Valley School District 51 saw their window of opportunity and never looked back.