Thank you, thank you, thank you for the Innovation Academy. It has been the best days of my school year. Creating an environment that fosters both deep learning and high levels of student engagement for all students is at the core of what education should be all about. The Innovation Academy opened our eyes to how schools across the world are making this a reality for students in a technologically rich 21st century. With expert facilitation by Dr. McLeod, we were immersed into topics including global connectedness, exponential change, project-based learning, and technology-infused instruction. Through the Innovation Academy our team was able to clarify our focus as a district, think more intentionally about our resources, and ultimately formulate plans for how THIS can be a reality for our students.

Over 50 members on our School District 59 leadership team had the privilege of working with Scott over the course of a full school year to examine 21st century leadership and to develop a shared understanding of effective leadership practices and tools. The collaboration and partnership was amazing, inspirational, and provided significant leadership growth. We learned that building a shared understanding among a leadership team is vital to organizational growth and developing a culture for learning.  During a period of historic change in school reform and as districts reimagine and retool their approach to educate students to be successful in life, it becomes even more critical to develop effective leadership. Scott’s sessions allowed time for discussion, dialogue, and reflection. Scott modeled and shared effective tools and practices for modern leading and learning. Our district is a better place as a result of working with Scott McLeod.

The Innovation Academy gave our district the tools we needed to develop our understanding around project-based learning, strategies to promote high levels of student engagement, and develop the next steps in our journey to prepare our students to be future ready. The Innovation Academy has been an outstanding experience! The Academy model offered high levels of collaboration and inspired teachers and administrators. Most importantly, high student achievement and engagement in the learning process were at the center of this highly rewarding process. Dr. McLeod has helped our district set the stage with in our development of site action plans focused on innovative instructional practices, professional development plans and measurable outcomes for student learning.

Dr. Scott McLeod’s Innovation Academy has brought innovative ideas to the Emmetsburg Community School District. The Innovation Academy has allowed for our Teacher Leaders to collaborate with each other around 21st Century learning strategies and styles. The information presented by Dr. McLeod has opened up a world of possibilities for our teachers and students. Teachers are having conversations around the concepts of preparing our students not only for the world that we currently live in, but the world that we can’t even imagine yet. Through the Innovation Academy, our district is preparing the learners of today for the world of tomorrow. 

Scott’s work with our district was instrumental in developing a foundation for our leaders to lead in the current context of learning. Scott was deeply thoughtful in how he engaged our leadership team, and every learning experience he lead us through strengthened our capacity and understanding not only of the modern, digital landscape of learning, but in what it takes to be a leader in this new and constantly changing space. Any opportunity to work with Scott would greatly benefit a staff, leadership team, or district.

In the Johnston Community School District we were looking to learn more about involving our students, being innovative, and exposing teachers to new ideas around teaching and learning. During this Innovation Academy experience our teachers were engaged, challenged, and had fun… modeling the experiences we wanted for our students! Working with Scott we found a great fit, bringing his ideas and global expertise around instructional technology, school design, and paradigm shifts to our staff.

By bringing the Innovation Academy to Emmetsburg CSD, Dr. McLeod has helped to start a mindset within our Teacher Leaders of the importance of preparing our children, not for the world that they currently live in, but the very complex and changing world that they will be going into. As a District, we have started to ask ourselves what can we change within our system to provide our teachers the opportunities to develop innovative ways of instruction that will create deeper learner for our students as well as how do we create experiences for our students to not only be consumers of information, but also to be the ever important producers of information.

Scott offered an Innovation Academy in North Dakota that was inspiring, impactful, and masterfully facilitated. Because of Scott’s help in building capacity, the Academy will be replicated without outside financial or consultant assistance next year. Scott is a font of knowledge, resources, and first-hand accounts about schools that are leading the way. The last two sessions of the Academy supported our educators in crafting and testing action plans for their own local contexts. During his facilitation of all of these sessions, Scott effectively modeled and demonstrated the type of learning environment he advocates for schools and classrooms: personalization/agency; authentic, relevant activities; engagement and presentation by learners; and purposeful technology infusion.