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This episode with Eric Sheninger and Nicki Slaugh discusses their book "Personalize: Meeting the Needs of All Learners" and their insights on transformative education practices, particularly at Quest Academy.

• Quest Academy's approach emphasizes student engagement and personalized learning. They prioritize retaining teachers and students by fostering a culture of choice, voice, and evidence-based practices.
• The school has implemented innovative strategies such as Mastery Minutes and a tracker system to monitor student progress and provide personalized support.
• Traditional grading structures like points, extra credit, and percentages have been removed in favor of a proficiency-based system. Students are assessed on their ability to demonstrate mastery of essential skills and knowledge.
• Big shifts in education require big moves, and Quest Academy embraces this philosophy. They encourage educators to find their own "right way" and avoid rigid adherence to any single "best practice."

About Nicki Slaugh

Nicki Slaugh stands out as a trailblazer in the field of educational transformation. Through her efforts, she has established a school culture dedicated to customizing learning experiences for individual students, cultivating a positive atmosphere,highlighting the importance of STEM education, and purposefully integrating technology to unleash each student’s potential. As a secondary principal, Nicki’s forward-thinking leadership has transformed a conventionally structured school into one that advocates for personalized, competency-based learning, attracting nationwide attention.

Nicki’s focus has been creating proficiency scales, developing rubrics, self-paced pathways, incorporating technology as a resource, and giving teachers and students voice and choice in the classroom.

Nicki is a Google-certified innovator who is certified in MagicSchoolAI. Notable achievements include creating a Mastery Tracker  for students and enhancing student progress in competency-based learning environments. 

Additionally, Nicki has presented her work at numerous local and national conferences teaching educators and leaders. Nicki championed innovative practices and received the Teacher of the Year Award, Model School Award, and was part of the reason her school accomplished being one of the first STEM-designated schools in Utah.  

Nicki has served as the Ogden/Weber Partners in Education Chair for three years, where she facilitated collaborative efforts to enhance educational opportunities for students.

Nicki Slaugh’s education legacy spans over two decades, starting as a classroom teacher from kindergarten to third grade. She also served as an instructional technology and curriculum coach for grades K-9. Nicki currently serves as a secondary principal, fueled by a passionate commitment to cultivating a love of learning within her school and is an educational consultant for Aspire Change EDU working with schools around the country. 

About Eric Sheninger

Eric works with schools throughout the world, helping educators meet and exceed their potential to improve outcomes for learners. He is the founder and CEO of Aspire Change EDU, a collaborative consultancy designed to provide personalized support to all educational systems. Prior to this, he was a teacher and the award-winning Principal at New Milford High School. Under his leadership, his school became a globally recognized model for innovative practices. Eric oversaw the successful implementation of several sustainable change initiatives that radically transformed the learning culture at his school while increasing achievement.His work focuses on innovative and practical ways educators can transform teaching, learning, and leadership.  Through his work with thousands of schools, Eric has emerged as an innovative leader, best-selling author, and sought-after speaker. His main focus is using research, evidence-based practices, and artificial intelligence (AI) to empower learners and educators.

• How Eric and Nicki came together to write this book: Personalize: Meeting the Needs of All Learners  
• Eric Sheninger’s first appearance on Transformative Principal.
• The power of Quest Academy
• Retain teachers, retain students - how to keep kids there. 
• Free public school
• Teenagers weren’t engaged. 
• PD time every Friday
• Mastery Minutes
• Beginning of day, tracker system. 
• Choice, voice, tracker data. 
• Curating evidence. 
• Culture 
• Self-pacing route vs. choice boards. 
• Removed points, extra credit, percentages, 
• Emerging, developing, mastering, extending
• Prove-its aligned to proficiency scales.
• Big shifts require big moves. 
• At Quest, we want you to be proficient
• When you remove the traditional structures, you have to add
• The right way is your way, there is no best practice. 
• Performance reviews, students meet with teachers one-on-one. 
• Impersonal approaches to focusing on the “who”
• How can we do it effectively, and what does it look like? 
• Evidence of effective vs. ineffective practices. 
• Practice, practice, practice, prove. 
• Maximizing the time we have with our students.
• How to be a transformative principal? 
• Eric: Show people the value of what you are doing
• Nicki: Get rid of the energy vampires

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by ind...