As Many Needs as There are Students

Case Study: Wilder School District (Wilder, Idaho)

How a district transformed to protect and fulfill all of its students’ right to a rigorous, future-ready education

What do you do when your students’ needs lack any uniformity or consistency?

As a migrant/high mobility farming community, students in Wilder School District often enroll and depart throughout the year. At any given time, Wilder’s students are all over the map in academic readiness and English language skills. For these students, the traditional, test-based learning model was never going to work.

Thanks to a maverick leader, who views his role as a student advocate first, and the hard work of all district employees, Wilder defied odds and resisted pressures to overhaul the system to one of true competency-based, individualized instruction.