What might truly impactful personalized learning look like? At these innovative districts, it comes in many shapes and sizes 

This story is one in a series created in collaboration with Future-Driven Schools to celebrate the work of groundbreaking school districts in the Pittsburgh region. Kidsburgh will share these stories throughout the 2025-26 school year. 

Schools face the challenge of educating hundreds — in some cases thousands — of students each day. So the goal of creating learning experiences that are personalized in meaningful ways for the needs, interests and learning styles of each student can seem like a big mountain to climb. 

It’s easy to assume that effective personalized learning might require large budgets and hours of complex planning. 

To be sure, it does take effort. But by forging partnerships beyond the walls of their schools and empowering students to pursue their individual interests, while also cultivating a spirit of creativity among teachers, innovative districts in western Pennsylvania are making it happen. 

“When we think about what’s best for students, we think about student voice and choice. We think about providing as many opportunities for students to develop and cultivate their passions and interests as possible, and creating experiences that are unique,” says Sean Aiken, superintendent at Beaver Area School District.

At Beaver Area and many other districts around western Pennsylvania, including Crawford Central and Butler Area, unique is a great word to describe some of the  learning experiences being offered. 

These three districts are all members of Future-Driven Schools, a regional alliance of school districts working to prepare every learner for tomorrow. Together, these districts help teachers, administrators, and board members do what they do best: innovate and collaborate in ways that benefit their students and communities. 

COACHING AND CREATIVELY EVALUATING

At Butler Area School District, which combines rural and urban neighborhoods, superintendent Brian White sees personalized learning as a wheel with many spokes. 

At the high school level, this includes bringing together a diverse group of 100 students to help chart their community’s future. These teens are driving a next-generation project that identifies ways to make life better, and they’re not just brainstorming; they’re actually doing the work alongside school and community leaders with a real voice in the outcome. 

So far, this multi-spoked project has included planning and developing a student-designed “arts alley” in downtown Butler and transforming a high school hallway into a furnished space where teens now connect and work on projects. In effect, students are changing the spaces around them as part of their curriculum — and building new skills in multiple areas that interest them along the way. 

Teachers are, of course, another vital spoke in this wheel.  

A personalized learning coach at the high school now works directly with teachers as they develop their skills and offerings. The district also requested permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to update the system they use to evaluate their teachers. Butler Area is now one of the only districts in the state to build their teacher evaluations around the Southwestern Pennsylvania Personalized Learning Framework. 

“We are piloting it this year with our new teachers. Moving forward, our goal by next year is to start moving all teachers to the Personalized Learning Framework as the basis of evaluation,” White says. 

“The whole idea is you’re operationalizing what you believe is the change. So if we want personalized learning, it’s great to do professional development on it. But now we’re saying that it matters so much that we’ll base the evaluation on it. It’s a statement of values. And what better place to put a statement of values than in our evaluations?” 

MAKING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

At Crawford Central School District, administrators are asking two related questions: How can we individualize education? And how do we align it with the opportunities available in the community and throughout the region?

As high schoolers approach graduation, “we really want to meet the students’ needs and also the needs of our local employers,” says Ann Noonen, the district’s director of educational technology integration and community outreach.

Throughout its schools, Crawford Central offers a variety of creative student programming that, taken together, offers options for everyone.

Partnerships play a major role: The Tech Ed department at the district’s Cochranton Junior-Senior High School collaborates with local businesses to introduce kids to tech-related career pathways they might take. Students can also become certified to troubleshoot computers. Once they receive certification from Dell, they go out into the community to offer tech support to their neighbors. 

The district has also partnered with nearby Allegheny College to offer unique learning experiences, including a program for gifted students who visit the college throughout the school year to take courses.

Then there’s the “Fourth Graders as Scientists” initiative. Through this unique program, every fourth grader in the district spends a day at Allegheny College participating in hands-on STEM activities led by community members.

Students get a “scientist kit,” which is a drawstring bag stocked with items like a magnifying glass and a little notebook. Then, they go out to a creek to dig into the dirt to see what living creatures they might find and they identify what they discover. 

The program, which aligns with state standards, plants the metaphorical seeds for some students to explore careers in science. As they meet people from organizations like Allegheny College’s outdoor learning program Creek Connections, the students can ask questions and dive more deeply into aspects of science that appeal to them. 

“At the start of the day, we ask them: What do you think a scientist looks like? And you get the typical answer: white coat, bushy eyebrows, pocket protector,” Noonen says. “Then at the end of the day, we ask them the same question, and there are new answers. They’ll say, ‘One lady looked like my mom!’ and that kind of thing. So it’s a neat way to really look at what scientists do.”

Creating personalized learning opportunities can be challenging, Noonen acknowledges. But, she says, districts shouldn’t let that stop them. “Students need good jobs and local employers need good people. So it’s about partnership, talking and listening to people, and also starting small.”

ENTREPRENEURS, DRONE PILOTS, AND MORE 

At Beaver Area, Assistant Superintendent Emily Sanders sums it up like this: “We’re giving students their own voice and agency over their learning.”

That involves assembling a collage of teachers, administrators, and community members to ensure students have the resources they need.

The result? Students can immerse themselves in everything from robotics to hydroponics to entrepreneurial education and cybersecurity. Two initiatives for younger students — “Fifth-Grade Marketplace” and “Bobcat Biz” — are exposing those kids to the worlds of creative making and manufacturing, as well as marketing and business. As they grow up, they can take a high-school elective called “Intro to Entrepreneurship Lab”

“The marketplace for fifth graders has been impactful for so many kids,” Sanders says. “They are excited to be choosing the items they will create and market. They’re very engaged in the work they’re doing.” 

Meanwhile, kids with an interest in technology can get involved with the student-run IT department otherwise known as the Student Technology Assistance Program. Beaver Area is also one of the districts spearheading the innovative Fly Like a Girl Drone Academy program, which prepares students to take the FAA exam to become licensed professional drone pilots while still in high school. 

These personalized learning efforts and more take into account not just where the kids are now, but where they’re headed at Beaver Area, Butler Area, and Crawford Central. 

For Aiken, these initiatives are the keys to giving students power over their own destinies. “We’re preparing them for the ability to think about and wonder and be curious about what their future is going to look like,” he says.