Superintendent Cory Steiner hosts 4th annual event
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2023 – Nearly 300 innovators and disruptors of traditional education across 15 states will meet June 14 and 15 in Hunter, North Dakota, for the 4th Annual Northern Cass Personalized Learning Institute. Hosting will be Dr. Cory Steiner, superintendent of Northern Cass School District and a 2022 finalist of The Yass Prize, the most prestigious award in education.
Under Steiner’s leadership, the district was a 2022 Yass Prize finalist, earning a $500,000 STOP Award for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless education. While Northern Cass may be a traditional public school district, their innovative work is anything but traditional. Steiner and his team empower students and support the community. The Northern Cass Personalized Learning Institute will highlight their efforts and other pioneering programs to create unprecedented partnerships that can expand this work.
“We were thrilled to find education changemakers like Northern Cass and are grateful to be able to reward their extraordinary creativity, tenacity and achievements,” said Janine Yass, the American philanthropist who established The Yass Prize with her husband, Jeff Yass.
Following a rigorous and extensive process, The Yass Prize committee determined rural schools across the nation could use Northern Cass School District as a model. The district’s personalized, communitywide education framework, Steiner said, gives students with limited options an innovative education. “Our goal is to make sure our students have exactly what they need to become who they deserve to be,” says Steiner.
Northern Cass is among the first districts in the U.S. to create blended learning models that develop personalized career paths for students interested in becoming medical technicians, nurses, child caretakers and other in-demand occupations.
The 4th Annual Northern Cass Personalized Learning Institute will feature sessions focused on personalized learning, authentic assessment, and transforming curriculum for neurodivergent students. Presenters include several awardees of the past two Yass Prize competitions:
- Jeff Imrich (Rock by Rock)
- Kenisha Skaggs (SOAR Academy)
- Mike Long (SailFuture)
- Brian Curcio (Rapunzl)
- Scott Bess (Purdue Polytechnic High School)
- David Lipkin (LiFT Learning)
“The Yass Prize awardees are a fraction of those doing the hard work of reaching and teaching the students entrusted to them, no matter what the challenges,” said Jeanne Allen, CEO and founder of the Center for Education Reform and Director of the Yass Foundation, which oversees The Yass Prize. “These innovative schools and programs offer student-centered learning environments that not only serve their students but impacts their entire communities, and the Northern Cass Learning Institute provides an opportunity to expand this important work.”
Media Contact:
CATHLEEN HEALY
202-365-4636
cathleen@edreform.com