The shift to personalized and proficiency-based practices at the classroom, school, district, and system level necessitates changes to local and state policy. Far too often practitioners (i.e., teachers and building-leaders) are left out of conversations about policy and end up feeling as though changes are being made to them, not with them. As a practitioner, having an understanding of the policy landscape where you live and work empowers creative, proactive, innovative student-centered practices, elevates your voice in the building, and enables you to facilitate meaningful changes for students. This understanding can help educators distinguish between which practices are truly required, and which are simply perceived to be required among their peers. Participants will learn how policy can be a driver for change at the building and classroom level, and how it can protect practices in the face of district turnover. Participants will have an opportunity to learn about the local policies that may be impacted by a switch to proficiency-based learning, review sample local policies, and discuss state and federal policy contexts.
