This article discusses how to incorporate the components of change management when helping design personalized coaching plans that inform professional learning priorities.

At Bellows Free Academy (BFA) in Fairfax, Vermont, Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs) aim to allow students to design their own pathway toward proficiency-based graduation and provide a forum for developing student agency. Despite numerous iterations of the PLP requirements at BFA, we recognized that student and adult engagement with the PLP was inconsistent, and the clarity about why students have PLPs was insufficient. Additionally, we admitted that after ten-plus years we had never adequately sought student input in designing the PLP process.

The stories we hear these days about education are largely focused either on the culture wars–what gets to be taught and what doesn’t–or how far students are “behind” in learning after nearly three pandemic school years. These stories are important, but what gets lost is the quiet revolution taking place across the nation–including in Kentucky–to modernize education for the future.