Lindsay USD

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Lindsay Unified School District has reimagined education through a dynamic and personalized approach, focusing on a whole child approach that incorporates competency-based learning, technology integration, and community collaboration. This innovative model ensures students are well-prepared for future success, as detailed in this Spotlight.

Overview

Lindsay Unified School District (LUSD) has embarked on a transformative journey to redefine education by clearly defining the types of young people necessary in a 21st century society and aligning their instructions, assessment, and culture to that end. Superintendent Tom Rooney often talks about the district’s responsibility to, first and foremost, nurture the development of “good people”, as defined by their Lifelong Learning Standards – i.e., well-balanced, self-directed, caring, compassionate, civic-minded, culturally-aware, and responsible global citizens, who are quality producers and resource managers.

The lifelong learning standards are: a well-balanced person; a self-directed, lifelong learner; a caring, compassionate person; a civic-minded person; a responsible global citizen; a quality producer & resource manager; and a culturally aware person.

The Lifelong Learning Standards (Lindsay.k12.ca.us)

LUSD has advanced this priority through a competency-based approach, leveraging technology integration, project-based learning, and a strong sense of community collaboration. This forward-thinking district prioritizes personalized learning, ensuring that all learners achieve a minimum competency level to be well-prepared for their futures. Through continuous feedback and transparent data practices, Lindsay Unified remains committed to fostering an environment where learners are empowered, engaged, and equipped with the skills necessary for lifelong success. The following sections delve into the key themes of their educational model, illustrating the district's innovative practices and the impact on student outcomes.

Competency-Based Learning

Around 15 years ago, LUSD staff recognized the need for a significant change in their educational approach. The traditional system, which was time-based and used a conventional A-F grading scale, simply was not meeting the needs of a vast majority of their students (LUSD prefers the term learners). Many learners required some level of intervention in order to meet grade-level expectations. Cinnamon Scheufele, Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction, explains,

Cinnamon Scheufele, Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction

"Our RTI pyramid was more of a rectangle. Everyone needed some level of intervention or were years below grade level. So we knew what we were doing wasn't working".

This realization led the district to convene the community over months to create their strategic design, a document that has guided their transformation over the past 15 years. It calls out the mission, vision, guiding principles, and clearly articulated lifelong learning standards (LUSD's version of a Graduate Profile or Portrait of a Graduate). The strategic design led the district to transition to a competency-based education system where students are required to achieve a minimum competency level (of three out of four) on all learning targets to ensure they are prepared for future educational opportunities.

"We switched to a numeric grading scale. The minimum requirement or competency is a three, which makes all learners who graduate eligible for a university if that's what they choose."

Technology Integration

To support the competency-based system, Lindsay Unified utilizes a learning management system called Empower. This system helps track student progress in real time. As Cinnamon explains, "You gather all the data and it's in real time. So, learners can see very easily what they still need to work on and what they've completed". The platform also provides learners with access to their learning progressions 24/7, allowing them to move forward or revisit past content as needed. This integration has created a culture where students have agency over their own learning and actively seek feedback from their teachers (or, in Lindsay, “learning facilitators”).

"The learners started really positively pushing the adults to let's not wait two weeks to input grades because I need to know where I'm at".

Project Based Learning

More recently (2022), Lindsay Unified began working with Defined Learning to introduce Project-Based Learning (PBL) across the district, integrating it into all content areas to enhance the learning experience. PBL helps students apply their learning in real-world contexts and develop critical skills such as collaboration and problem-solving (i.e., those called out in their Lifelong Learning Standards). "We also implement Project-Based Learning across the district. One of the ways we've been able to implement PBL is to integrate it into other content". This approach ensures that lifelong learning standards are naturally woven into the curriculum, fostering a deeper understanding and application of knowledge.

Lindsay Unified Schools, Defined Learning Journey Implementation Timeline

Collaboration and Community

Lindsay Unified places a strong emphasis on collaboration and community involvement. The district's transformation was driven by a collective effort involving community members, parents, and educators. "It's a community design, and we still utilize it daily". "One of the unique things about our model is the agency among the learners. Learners pretty much control what they are excited about and advocate for that". This collaborative model has fostered a supportive environment where everyone is invested in the success of the students. Looking forward, Lindsay Unified continues to explore ways to enhance their competency-based approach and integrate new technologies and methodologies to support their learners' success.

Feedback and Future Directions

Feedback is an integral part of Lindsay Unified's continuous improvement process. The district's approach includes regular data chats at various levels, where learners, learning facilitators, and administrators discuss progress through its cycle of inquiry process. In addition to data chats, the district also conducts biannual data summits where site administrators present their goals, progress, and action plans. "These are kind of like very transparent professional learning opportunities where our site administrators stand up in front of their peers, present their goals, the progress towards their goals, their action plans, and their next steps, and then get feedback from the team". This culture of local, mutual accountability and transparency ensures that the district remains focused on improving student outcomes and addressing any challenges that arise.

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