From PLCs to Real-World Relevance

From PLCs to Real-World Relevance

In Rowan County Schools, transformation is happening one PLC at a time. Rather than treating high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs) as fixed scripts, teachers are reimaging them as launchpads for community-connected learning.

Grade-level PLCs gather not only to unpack their HQIRs, but to ask a bigger question: “Where does this connect to our community?” Together they look for ways to extend the unit into the community or amplify it with digital tools. These “simple shifts”, small design choices build toward the five Transformations: Personal, Learner-Led, Real-World, Learner-Owned, and Collaborative.

Across grade levels, those shifts are easy to spot:

• 2nd Grade – Pollination Collaboration: Partnering with the Rowan County Senior High School Civil Engineering class, second graders explored pollination through hands-on STEM learning. Older students built bee boxes and shared design insights, while elementary learners connected their EL module to real-world engineering and ecology.
• 3rd Grade – Schools Around the World Simulation: Students read about education across cultures, then turned their playground into a global learning space, building “classrooms” on a bus, under a tent, and beside a picnic table to experience how school looks different around the world.
• 3rd Grade – The CES Unloved Books Podcast: A reading strategies lesson evolved into a student-produced podcast that gave learners a public voice and an authentic audience. They even presented their project at the state STLP competition.
• 7th Grade – Epidemics Unit: Students in an EL module on Patient Zero created their own digital campaigns to explain how information (and misinformation) spreads, connecting literacy and science through storytelling.
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Across every example, the pattern is clear: Rowan’s PLCs are incubators for transformation. Through intentional coaching and collaboration, Rowan County is proving that vibrant learning isn’t about replacing resources, it’s about reimagining how they connect to the world students live in.



A Toolkit for Designing with integrity: 

Using HQIRs to bring The Transformations to life.



Rowan County’s story reminds us: transformation doesn’t always start from scratch, sometimes it starts with just a new lens. Their instructional coach used PLC time to help teachers look at the lessons they already have and ask, “What small shift could make this more authentic, connected, and alive for our learners?” That same idea is also captured in our HQIR Case Studies Tool. 

This PLC-ready resource helps teams study side-by-side examples of HQIR lessons, the original version and a simple-shifted version redesigned through The Transformations. Each case comes with reflection prompts, design questions, and a process teams can use to plan their own shifts.

Whether your next PLC is 15 minutes or a full block, this tool makes it easy to practice designing with integrity over fidelity, shaping high-quality resources into vibrant learning.

✈️ Explore the HQIR Case Studies here.

We partner with schools to bring these moves to life, in PLCs, faculty meetings, co-teaching cycles, and custom PD sessions. If you’re ready to simple shift your HQIR we are here to help! 



Your Fall Learning Flight Plan

 ✈️ November 5 – COACHING FOR VIBRANT LEARNING (9am–3pm)

COACHES + BUILDING & DISTRICT LEADERS: 

You spend your days feeding others…but who’s feeding you? This session is your refill. We will spend the day exploring: 

• What’s fueling, and draining, your current coaching cycles
• What kind of nourishment those you serve might need
• How to create low-lift, high-impact moves that energize both you and your team

🔗 sign up here

 ✈️ November 12 – KDE: Designing Local Accountability Systems (9am–12pm)

DISTRICT + SCHOOL LEADERS, TEACHERS, AND COACHES:

Ready to reimagine what accountability can look like when it’s locally designed and learning-centered? Join us to explore:

• What “success” truly means for your students, schools, and district
• How to design vibrant learning experiences that demonstrate growth
• Ways to build a community-owned system that reflects your local story

This interactive session co-hosted by the KDE Division of Innovation and UK Next Gen, features the new KDE Local Accountability Design Guide & Toolkit.

🔗 sign up here.             

🔗 Flyer

✈️ December 9 – Designing Defenses of Learning (9am–3pm)

COACHES + BUILDING & DISTRICT LEADERS: 



Whether you’re launching defenses for the first time or ready to reimagine the ones you have, this session is your design lab. We’ll spend the day exploring:

• What makes a defense truly learner-centered
• How to design prompts, artifacts, and reflection arcs that spotlight growth
• Ways to bring students, staff, and the community into the experience

You’ll leave with a defense model that’s bold, doable, and ready to showcase the strengths and journeys of your learners.

🔗 sign up here