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After declines in enrollment forced the closure of some schools in the district and redistricting, leadership at Floyd County Schools (FCS) in Georgia knew that they needed to find ways to support their teachers and staff through the changes. One of the critical issues to address was finding a trusted resource for teachers to effectively track student data and fill learning gaps. The solution also needed to be rolled out thoughtfully and capable of building strong relationships between administrators and teachers.

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A Carefully Timed Implementation 

At the start of the 2022–23 school year, FCS began a partnership with Edmentum, utilizing Exact Path within middle schools to identify specific learner needs and provide support for struggling students. Teachers in the middle schools liked that Exact Path automatically creates individualized learning paths for each student based on need, so usage of the program quickly became a standard and sustainable procedure during the daily routine of teaching and learning. 

Because of the success of the implementation at the district’s middle schools in its first year, after state assessments in May of 2023, the elementary schools got the chance to pilot Exact Path to see if it was something they would like to begin implementing for the next school year. FCS was moving away from a different program, so the district carefully handled transitioning to the new solution. 

“We were able to give teachers the opportunity, without any kind of pressure, to just check the program out, see what all was available, and ask the questions they needed to ask,” Janie Shiflett, an instructional technology specialist at FCS, explained.

During the 2023–24 school year, FCS middle schools continued their implementation plan, and teachers at the elementary schools were able to slowly begin implementing Exact Path over the first few weeks of school because they already had familiarity with the program from piloting it in the spring. 

Mandy Buckenham, an instructional technology specialist at FCS, commented, “I think with a lot of programs, teachers somewhat feel like they have to change what they do to make that program work in their classroom, but with Exact Path, teachers were able to see that this program corresponds with what they are already doing in the classroom.” 

This step-by-step rollout provided both the time and the space for FCS leadership to adopt a train-the-trainer model, and in turn, support the teachers through each stage of product training and implementation. This approach depended greatly on the relationship between the instructional technology specialists and the classroom teachers. With time, this relationship was able to grow and flourish. 

“Teachers are the most important factor in the classroom, but they need support,” Celena Arrington, the director of instructional technology and online learning for FCS, noted. “Exact Path is a great tool to help them not only fill in some gaps while they are having to continue teaching the standards for a grade level but also for that acceleration piece that can be challenging, too.” 

Mrs. Arrington continued, “We are blessed to have instructional technology specialists dedicated to our schools. The instructional technology specialists are there every single week making contact with teachers. The instructional technology team has been instrumental because they were able to listen to trainings and to what our teachers need. They are able to go into classrooms and model and provide support and co-teach lessons. That’s a huge piece of the puzzle that we can’t forget about. Teachers now see the instructional technology specialists as an instructional partner, so we are able to help with a lot of other things too.” 

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The intentional time spent building educator buy-in at every stage of the implementation has led to the district’s schools meeting both usage goals and academic results that leaders originally set. At the end of the 2023–24 school year, students mastered over 200,000 skills in Exact Path. Additionally, across the FCS elementary and middle schools, more students scored at proficient or distinguished levels on the Georgia Milestones assessments for English and mathematics than compared to students around the state. 

While the partnership with Exact Path is one piece of the plan at Floyd County Schools to support teachers and students, administrators and teachers are continuing to work together to build up each other so that students within the district can see continued growth and success. 

Mrs. Arrington elaborated, “Because of this implementation with Exact Path, we’ve gotten more traction with our teachers; they see us as an instructional partner. They had a real reason to invite us into their classrooms, so we get to help with a lot of other things too. It’s been a really neat thing to see.”