Transforming Education in Wyoming
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. In May 2021, Governor Mark Gordon launched the RIDE Advisory group, tasked with elevating the Wyoming Education system by Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education. The RIDE Advisory group anchored their process in the local community's vision for the future of their learners and conducted listening tours across the state and confirmed the need for a student-centered transformation in their final recommendations.
Key Issues:
Outdated teaching and assessment practices.
Limited student-centered learning opportunities.
Need for greater workforce readiness.
Policies, rules, and regulations that require clarification and limited student-centered learning opportunities.
What Wyoming Needed:
A new approach to instruction & assessment that increased opportunities for student agency, development of essential skills, authentic learning, and work-based learning opportunities.
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 at the local and state level.
A partnership & alignment of efforts between organizations, including the Governor’s office, Department of Education, State Board, Higher Education, and School and District Administrative Associations.
The Solution:
The RIDE Initiative & Wyoming’s Future of Learning Partnership
Wyoming partnered with 2Revolutions to rethink education at scale. Through the RIDE Initiative, the State Board’s development of a WY Profile of a Graduate, and the University of Wyoming College of Education's development of a Profile of a WY Educator and aligned learning modules, educators gained the tools and support needed to bring student-centered learning to life.
How We’re Driving Change:
1. Statewide Learning Series – This series is designed to ensure all educators and invested parties from across the state have access to learning in critical and high priority areas. These virtual sessions are available to all, model a learner-centered approach, and actively engage participants in a variety of ways including planning for next steps and exploration of high-quality resources to further support student-centered efforts. All learning needs to be contextually relevant and topics for these sessions aggregated key needs across the state and leveraged both local and national practitioner experts.
As the work across Wyoming occurs at all levels of the system from the classroom to the state house, these sessions were differentiated to meet the needs of participants.
Practice Sessions: These sessions engaged educators who are working directly with students and featured high-impact strategies, learning, and ideas that could be applied the next day.
Systems & Structure Sessions: Focused on the enabling structures and systems for student-centered learning, these sessions are primarily geared towards district and building leadership. From policy, budgeting, and scheduling, to leveraging AI and designing work-based learning systems, these sessions engaged participants from across the state and country in rethinking the systems and structures that are limiting the creativity of teachers to implement more student-centered learning experiences.
2. Communities of Practice(CoP) – These collaborative focused learning opportunities build momentum around instruction, assessment, or leadership topics leveraging a cohort approach with ongoing coaching support. They exist at all levels of the system in Statewide Transformation and build a supportive community to support learning and implementing a more student-centered approach from classroom practice to state level systems.
Leader Communities: Supporting district & school leadership.
RIDE District Leadership CoP is a collaborative community designed to support district level leadership (Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Curriculum Directors, etc) to discuss problems of practice, build connected expertise, and inform the deeper work of the cohort.
WY Educators Advancing Student-Centered Systems is a collaborative Community of Practice to support building-level leadership in navigating the change management process, supporting educators in making deeper shifts to student-centered learning, and elevating innovative solutions to common problems of practice.
Deep District-Based Communities: These CoPs are the true heart of the transformation work and where meaningful shifts in practice inform shifts in systems and structures at both the local and state level. Implementing teachers and leaders in these district-based CoPs meet monthly to engage in new learning, iterate and implement student-centered shifts, and to reflect, revise, and plan for next steps. From the specific topical focus with implementing teachers to supporting building leaders in effectively coaching and supporting teachers as they work to shift their practices, this work is supported by Revolutions Coaches through a systemic approach to realize impact on learners.
Personalized Support for Educators – Each district has a dedicated coach who directly supports educators across the district, meeting them where they are and helping them take the next step forward in their practice. Monthly topic specific teach-ins and weekly office hours support educators through collaboratively building the knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to shift to more student-centered practices. The focus is on building upon existing district priorities and educator strengths to redesign an aspect of instruction or assessment identified in partnership with the district. Educators are empowered to immediately implement ideas in their classrooms and deepen their capacity to support their colleagues.
3. Celebrations of Learning- Whether these events are local in the district, or statewide, Celebrations of Learning are an opportunity to elevate and celebrate educator and learner voices. At a local level, Celebrations of Learning offer educators an opportunity to share the story of their learning- both process and product, barriers and opportunities, evidence of impact on self, students, and colleagues. These powerful authentic stories illustrate that change is possible and invite others to come along and reimagine for themselves what is possible. On a larger scale, Statewide Celebrations of Learning are an opportunity for educators and invested parties from across the state to not only share their story, but also actionable next steps, ideas, and inspiration with one another.District workshops and celebrations, exhibitions of learning and networking, as well as student voice and participation woven meaningfully through the day showcase that the answer is in the room and the power of coming together in community.
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.
Deep engagement and active collaboration across all levels of the system- classroom to State House- is essential.