How can I use the Site Level Conditions?

The content of this more generic resource is not meant to be user-facing, but rather to be used as fodder for building contextualized school-specific tools. Possible use cases for this content include:

  • Planning ahead:
    For many leaders and personalized learning stakeholders, an early question centers around, “What would it take for us/this system to take on personalized learning?” The domains and conditions offer a perspective on the many ways that effective personalized learning would impact the site and system.

  • Site level reflection/self-assessment:
    The tool can be used to create a customized site level reflection: “Where are we now? Where might we prioritize our efforts at the site level to enable personalized learning environments for learners?” (See     here for a Summit Learning example.)

  • Collaborative reflection/self-assessment:
    This tool can support collaborative efforts between schools, districts/CMOs, and community partners to reflect, self-assess, and make collective goals and action plans to enable or grow conditions together.

How is the Site Level Conditions resource organized?

The conditions are organized into twelve site domains shown on the right. Domains located at the center of the diagram (Shared Vision and Change Management, Conducive Culture, Disciplined Results Monitoring, and Continuous Improvement) require heavy initial investment and ongoing and continuous adaptive leadership, characterized as requiring changes in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties (Heifetz et al., 2009). The outer ring of domains are intentionally not given an order of priority as different contexts will require different prioritization of these conditions.

Note that while the outer ring of the circle visually showcases nine equal segments, it’s likely that some of these domains will take significantly more time and effort to improve depending on the site context. Generally, domains that require adaptive leadership or shifts in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits and/or loyalties have fewer clear roadmaps, are highly context specific, and often have longer timelines for change (see the Equity at the Forefront section below). Other domains may contain more conditions solved “through the organization’s current structures, procedures and ways of doing things,” (Heifetz et al., 2009) or via technical leadership which may mean timelines can be more easily fast tracked if prioritized. (See the accompanying Educator and Leadership Mindsets Inquiry which helps leaders recognize when shifting mindsets may be in play.)