Transforming Education in Wyoming
2Revolutions serves as the lead technical assistance partner for Wyoming’s Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education (RIDE) Pilot.
A Statewide Approach to Student-Centered Learning
Wyoming
The Challenge:
Why Change Was Needed
Wyoming’s education system needed a shift. Traditional instructional and assessment models weren’t engaging students or preparing them for the future. The Governor’s Office conducted listening tours across the state, confirming the need for a student-centered transformation.
Key Issues:
Outdated teaching and assessment practices.
Limited student-centered learning opportunities.
What Wyoming Needed:
A new approaches to instruction & assessment.
A scalable, sustainable way to transform learning statewide.
Support for educators to lead change in their classrooms.
To create & elevate enabling conditions by rethinking systems, structures, and policies
The Solution:
The RIDE Initiative
Wyoming partnered with 2Revolutions to rethink education at scale. Through the RIDE Initiative, educators gained the tools and support needed to bring student-centered learning to life.
How We’re Driving Change:
1. Statewide Learning Series – Monthly virtual sessions for ALL districts.
PRACTICE Sessions: For teachers & leaders working directly with students.
SYSTEMS & STRUCTURES Sessions: For school & district leaders.
2. Communities of Practice – Collaborative learning experiences
Leader Communities: Supporting district & school leadership.
District-Based Communities: Custom topics for local needs.
3. Personalized Support for Educators – Hands-on coaching & training.
Dedicated coaches for every team.
Monthly teach-ins & weekly office hours.
Local & Statewide Celebrations of Learning to showcase progress.
4. Celebrations of Learning- Elevating & celebrating educator and learner voices
District based opportunities to share the learning and impact with others
Statewide convenings to collaborate, learn, & inspire
The Impact: Measurable Results
9 → 20+ districts engaged, reaching ~50% of Wyoming students.
90% of educators reported making meaningful shifts in their practice.
Districts are addressing systemic barriers (assessment policies, transcripts, scheduling) to sustain change.
We are working with coalition partners to identify metrics that are both meaningful and manageable for student impact - particularly student engagement, student agency, and post-secondary success.
Educator Perspective:
“My favorite part of this experience is dreaming of all the possibilities and opportunities that will come to life.”
— Brittney Montgomery, Sweetwater 2
What We Learned: Takeaways
Statewide collaboration builds momentum.
Professional learning is strongest in a community.
Empowered educators lead lasting transformation.
Work across all levels of the system—classroom to State House—is essential.
Building Change Agents: How JCPS is Driving Lasting Change
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) was grappling with challenges in teacher retention and professional development, compounded by the broader need to innovate educational practices to better serve a diverse student population. The overarching vision was to embed deeper learning and equity into the educational process, ensuring students emerge not just academically proficient but as fully engaged, capable citizens. This vision encompassed the following key strategic goals:
Implementation of the Backpack of Success Skills: JCPS sought to ensure every student was equipped with essential success skills, honed through real-world applications. This initiative was a shift towards assessments and learning experiences tailored to meet students' unique needs and potentials.
Curriculum and Equity: The district focused on overhauling its curriculum to enhance equity, ensuring that learning materials and experiences were inclusive and acknowledged the contributions of all community groups.
Addressing Learning Loss: The disruption caused by the pandemic led to significant learning loss across the district. JCPS aimed to mitigate this through revised educational strategies, incorporating personalized learning to meet diverse student needs more effectively.
This overall success of these strategies was contingent upon building the educator's knowledge, skills and mindsets to create classrooms and experiences that were aligned with these approaches- and that required new skills.
Jefferson County Public Schools Kentucky
The Challenge:
Why Change Was Needed
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) was grappling with how to effectively implement a district strategic objective to implement high-quality deeper learning systemwide as an excellence and equity strategy. The district had developed a Backpack of Success Skills to ensure every student was equipped with essential success skills, honed through real-world applications. This initiative was a shift towards assessments and learning experiences tailored to meet students' unique needs and potentials.
While an effective deeper learning office existed within the district, the ability to provide deep capacity building was limited by time and resources. JCPS was looking for a more comprehensive solution. Equally important was a need to provide meaningful incentives for educators to participate deeply over time to build their knowledge, skills and leadership.
The Solution:
In response to these challenges, JCPS (CAO and team, Deeper Learning team) collaborated with 2Revolutions and Spalding University to offer the Certificate in Competency-based Education, with the option to earn an M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership, to over 200 educators across the district. This program was designed to focus on learner-centered practices both in content and delivery, allowing educators to learn about, while learning within, a learner-centered model. In a district as large as JCPS (~100,000 students), the objective was to build a set of teacher leaders who could spread change within buildings throughout the district.
The Impact: Measurable Results
Educators from 85 schools have participated in the program, representing 51% of all schools in JCPS
98% of those who finished the program agreed or strongly agreed that as a result of the program:
“I have the knowledge to become a lever of change in my classroom, building, or system”
“I have the mindset to become a lever of change in my classroom, building, or system”
“I have the skills to become a lever of change in my classroom, building, or system”
Leader Perspective:
“This program has very much impacted my job. I know that my role as instructional coach gives me the ability to have an impact on other teachers and leaders in my building.”
—High School Instructional Coach in JCPS
“I really felt like my mindset and vision of learning has shifted for the better due to this program. This program has allowed me to create large transformational shifts in practice at my school.”
—High School Instructional Coach in JCPS
Educator Perspective:
“This program has changed the way I teach. I am not the same teacher I was when I started this program. I have been in traditional programs and those programs had no transforming effects on my craft. The things I learned in this class I am carrying with me beyond the classroom and beyond the time I have spent in the program. Also, my students have been transformed. I have seen test scores grow in ways that I can attribute to information I learned and implemented as a result of this CBE program. My students are enjoying having more say in their learning as well.
—Elementary school teacher in JCPS
What We Learned: Takeaways
Empowerment and Impact: A professional learning experience that is responsive to the current teaching context empowers educators with practical skills and confidence to make immediate changes in classroom practice- and educators are excited to share the ways that those changes positively impacted student engagement and learning outcomes.
Agency in Learning: Adult learners need to unlearn how to learn in order to learn differently- shifting from a compliance-based approach to learning to one where they are at the center of the process. By allowing educators to experience a more learner-centered model, they develop greater empathy for what it will take to create learner autonomy within their own classrooms.
Sustained Inspiration and Leadership Growth: When provided with the opportunity to intentionally develop leadership skills, educators see themselves- and their ability to effect change- differently. By growing capacity across a broad range of skills, the program can create a critical mass of change agents within a system, allowing the work to spread more naturally from within.
Empowering Students and Educators Through Student-Driven Assessment
The Challenge: Why Change Was Needed
SAU-16 sought to deepen its commitment to competency-based education (CBE) by making assessment a meaningful and empowering process for students. Traditional grading systems often left students as passive recipients of scores rather than active participants in their learning. Educators recognized a need for students to develop agency over their learning by setting goals, reflecting on progress, and leading conversations about their achievements.
SAU16 had adopted a new assessment policy to support more student-centered grading practices. A key challenge was ensuring that both elementary and secondary educators were equipped to carry out the new policy with aligned practices so students could engage in student-driven assessments in a way that was developmentally appropriate and meaningful. Educators needed support in shifting their practices, developing new structures, and gaining confidence in facilitating student-driven assessment.
School Administrative Unit 16, New Hampshire
The Challenge:
Why Change Was Needed
School Administrative Unit 16 (SAU 16) was moving toward a new assessment policy to support more student-centered grading practices. A key challenge was ensuring that both elementary and secondary educators were equipped to carry out the new policy with aligned practices so students could engage in student-driven assessments in a way that was developmentally appropriate and meaningful. Educators needed support in shifting their practices, developing new structures, and gaining confidence in facilitating student-driven assessment.
The Solution:
In partnership with 2Revolutions, SAU 16 implemented a phased approach to supporting educators in designing and embedding student-driven assessment practices. The initiative included:
Community of Practice (CoP): Monthly educator learning sessions focused on formative feedback, portfolio defense, and rubric design.
Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) & Portfolio Defenses: A structured process where students reflected on their learning, set goals, and presented to families and educators.
School-Wide Exhibitions of Learning: Students shared their work in exhibition-style formats to reinforce learning ownership.
Ongoing Coaching and Support: 2Revolutions provided training, resources, and direct coaching to help educators refine their assessment practices; while concurrently supporting the district in developing the draft policy shifts necessary to ensure that the change was sustained and aligned to district-wide policy.
Educators engaged in peer collaboration, examined exemplars, and participated in guided learning experiences to build their capacity. The structured, scaffolded approach helped both elementary and secondary schools navigate the transition.
The Impact: Measurable Results
Educators rated the experience CoP highly, with an average score of 4.5/5 for overall satisfaction; sharing this was a good use of time and meaningfully impacted their practice.
Celebrations of Learning are occurring in grades K-8 and student voice and agency is at an all time high in all schools throughout the district.
Student-led conferences are happening twice a year in grades K-5 and most parents find them rich and informative.
Next year, portfolio celebrations will take place in grades 5, 8 and 12. The focus for grade 5 is “What did you learn in your elementary experience?”, grade 8 is “what is your educational passion?” and grade 12 is “what did our schools do to prepare you for your next steps in life?”
District assessment policy has moved to enable and promote student-driven assessment.
Student Perspective:
“I now understand how to find good resources that can help me in future presentations. I can use this skill outside the classroom when I want to research something I’m interested in.”
— Middle School Student
Educator Perspective:
"Students are learning to be reflective in order to own their learning… They beamed with pride when showing their mistakes and best work, learned how to lead a meeting and communicate, and took more ownership in a finished product.”
— Curriculum Coordinator & 2nd Grade Teacher
What We Learned: Takeaways
Doing this work with an eye on both the conditions at the systems level (in this case, district assessment policy shift) and teacher practice was essential to the overall success of the work.
Shifting to student-driven assessment requires a mindset change for students, educators, and families. Continued professional development, reflection, and refinement are essential for sustained success.
The Community of Practice works best when the intervention is concrete, tangible and addresses a felt needs of the teacher in alignment with the district priorities. All the learning and the direct application supports real progress toward the goal, and the peer-to-peer collaboration strengthens the success of the work.
Celebrations of Learning are a very useful change management strategy in that teachers publicly reflect directly to their peers on their work, learning, and implementation, including successes and challenges. This provides a powerful point of entry for others.