Learn the Secrets of One of the Nation’s Most Successful Digital Districts
Gwinnett County Public Schools is the largest school system in Georgia, with 143 schools and a student population of 180,000. For a district this size, delivering technology successfully is no mean feat. But for Tricia Kennedy, Executive Director of Instructional Development and Support at Gwinnett County Public Schools, the secret lies in creating a model for excellence and then following through in a systemic way. The results at Gwinnett are inspiring. Even more so if those results and the methodology to obtain those results are freely shared.
At the recent Learning Counsel National Gathering in Dallas, Kennedy took to the stage to share Gwinnett’s lessons learned, and the audience enjoyed the benefits of the mammoth district’s 10-year journey to success.
Among the wisdom shared by Kennedy, “Slow is okay, but never still. We have a lot of processes that we follow. Sometimes the slowness over these years has been our choice because we wanted to test out everything and make sure we were going in the right direction. Sometimes it was things beyond our control. But the important thing is that we’ve kept that vision. We’ve stuck with it; we’ve had champions for it. I’ve had to be that champion myself on a number of occasions to keep this in the forefront. 10 years for an initiative and a large district is a long time. The fact that we are still talking about E-Class is a success in itself. But we couldn’t stand still.
“Also, it’s smarter to travel in groups. It’s had to be a partnership between Curriculum and Instruction. If you’re in a small district where you don’t have a lot of people that can step up and take on different roles, this is your network. Find your partnerships externally. We have our strategic partner, IBM, our partners, D2L and Safari and Classwork’s engaged. We needed to be an IMS global consortium. We needed to be in Learning Counsel and I encourage you to refuse to do it alone. Find a team.
Below is the entire video of Tricia Kennedy’s presentation, delivered step by step for your success. With a single click, the Wisdom of Gwinnett County Public Schools’ 10-year digital journey can be yours.
