'Beyond Reform: Systemic Shifts Toward Personalized Learning' is Released

BLOOMINGTON, IN - Marzano Research, an all-inclusive research-into-practice resource center for educators, has announced the release of Beyond Reform: Systemic Shifts Toward Personalized Learning by Lindsay Unified School District (LUSD).

Through this detailed resource, LUSD shares how they improved student learning by shifting from a traditional time-based education system to a learner-centered performance-based system. LUSD's successful implementation of performance-based education has become an inspiration for schools and districts around the country.

By adopting and tailoring LUSD's instructional model to their needs, K-12 teachers and administrators can embark on their own districtwide transformation efforts. "No longer does the responsibility fall to one entity within the school to communicate a learner's progress," the authors explain. "Instead, there is a web of stakeholders who are empowered to hold each other accountable for the sake of learners and advocate for what best serves learners' needs."

LUSD struggled under a traditional system for many years with low levels of literacy, low test scores, and graduates who were unprepared for life. Envisioning and building a new, mastery-based system from the ground up allowed the district to radically improve student engagement, achievement and college and career readiness.

"The journey of Lindsay Unified is one of the great stories that gives me hope and inspiration for the future of education," stated Jeff Wetzler, cofounder of Transcend. "Its lessons on system transformation are powerful, not only for education leaders but for system leaders in all sectors."

Kevin P. Chavous, author of Building a Learning Culture in America, added, "The Lindsay Unified School District story represents one of the most amazing success stories in American public education history ... I have visited hundreds of school districts around the country, and none has been able to do what Lindsay has done."

Throughout the book, readers will meet Lindsay Unified students and see how the district's performance-based system personally impacted their learning. Readers will also gain access to core value rubrics that school staff can use to reflect on personal leadership growth, frame important conversations and provide feedback. The end of the book features a free reproducible checklist that will assist educators in shifting to a performance-based system.

Beyond Reform is now available to order at MarzanoResearch.com.

About the Author

Lindsay Unified School District, located in California's Central Valley, serves over four thousand students in the city of Lindsay and its surrounding area. LUSD is widely recognized as a leader in performance-based education and has been featured in Education Week and the Wall Street Journal, among others. The district's leaders encourage others to follow in their footsteps through presentations at national conferences and organized site visits to Lindsay schools.

About Marzano Research

Marzano Research combines Dr. Marzano's 50 years of educational research with continuous action research in all major areas of schooling in order to provide effective and accessible instructional strategies, leadership strategies and classroom assessment strategies that are always at the forefront of best practice.