As educators, we’re used to hitting the ground running and doing what’s necessary to ensure our students fully benefit from our plans. In our rush to meet deadlines, reach objectives, and deliver instruction, it’s easy to overlook something important: celebrating the wins that shape our work and help us make progress toward larger goals. Celebrating these moments is important not only for grounding ourselves in our progress but also for sharing with others to serve as a catalyst for our collective learning.

A Win is a Win

It’s easy to dismiss daily progress as insignificant or feel that our efforts aren’t moving the needle fast enough. But every win, no matter how small, contributes to our growth and brings us closer to our larger goals. While we’re good at celebrating big milestones or external recognition, the real power lies in building a culture where we celebrate every step of progress. By sharing these wins, we help others see what’s possible and encourage them to try new approaches.

As part of our Exponential Learning Initiative, we recently met with leaders from the six virtual or hybrid sites participating in our collaborative, mixed-methods study. To ground discussions, we began each session by asking leaders to reflect on their wins from the first part of the school year.

Celebrations from Six Virtual/Hybrid Sites

While sites described their early successes as both incremental progress and big wins, all of their reflections pointed to meaningful growth and sustainability within their models. These wins include welcoming new teammates and learners, using data more strategically, building strong cultures, establishing new systems, and increasing opportunities for students.

Welcoming New Teammates and Learners

These sites have excelled at welcoming new educators and learners into their communities, expanding access, and reaching more students from diverse backgrounds.

• Bismarck Public Schools Empower[Ed] welcomed a new social studies teacher who seamlessly stepped into their model, maintaining a high level of rigor and student accountability.
• Novi Virtual continues to build strong partnerships with other districts and is seeing an influx of new students, many of whom view their program as an opportunity to find success.

Using Data Strategically

These sites are finding new and innovative ways to use data for continuous improvement, scaling their efforts, and driving innovation.

• Da Vinci Connect TK-8 launched a new Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) model and is piloting new data collection methods to better support student interventions and track progress.
• Virtual Innovators Academy is using comprehensive data to evaluate the success of their first two cohorts, enabling them to plan strategically for the upcoming year.

Building Strong Cultures

As virtual and hybrid models, each of the sites has been intentional about building strong communities with a sense of belonging and shared identity.

• Friendship Online Academy fostered more collaboration between their fully virtual and brick-and-mortar students to build a shared Friendship identity.
• Virtual Innovators Academy empowered students to lead their own conferences, where they discussed their new individualized learning plans and progress toward their goals.

Establishing Systems

Many of our sites are ahead of next year’s planning, creating systems that streamline operations and increase their ability to serve students effectively.

• St. Vrain’s AGILE Program has next year’s schedules ready and successfully passed a bond to build AGILE spaces in every high school.
• Novi Virtual created new procedures to streamline the process of transitioning in-person students to virtual, reducing administrative barriers to speedy enrollment throughout the school year.

Increasing Opportunities

All of our sites have been intentional about increasing access and opportunity for learners by forging new partnerships, identifying new programs, and exploring new ways of engaging learners.

• St. Vrain’s AGILE Program developed a new partnership with Front Range Community College to offer dual enrollment opportunities after school.
• Friendship Online Academy is offering virtual courses to partner schools and districts in the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia).

Reflecting on Your Wins

Recognizing our wins, whether they reflect the progress we make or meeting larger goals, is a powerful tool to build motivation and catapult learning for others.

By sharing our successes, we inspire others to do the same – sparking innovation, fostering shared learning, and creating opportunities to build a community focused on continuous improvement.

At The Learning Accelerator, we encourage you to reflect on your own wins this year and share them. By doing so, you’ll not only celebrate your growth but also help others learn and reflect on their own success.

Want to learn more about the Exponential Learning Initiative Evidence Sites? Check out our full report: Deepening Our Understanding of High-Quality Virtual and Hybrid Learning: Initial Analysis of Six Diverse Models.