CASPER (WNE) — Some Wyoming school districts will soon see the first fruits of a statewide effort to rethink the public K-12 education system. 

Gov. Mark Gordon’s office announced Wednesday that nine Wyoming school districts will participate in a pilot program beginning later this summer that aims to focus on more competency-based and student-centered learning. 

This initial pilot emerged from recommendations that came out of Gordon’s Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education (RIDE) Advisory Group, which was tasked with making recommendations to improve Wyoming’s K-12 education amid funding concerns and workforce changes. 

The advisory group traveled around the state last year gathering feedback from communities about changes they wanted to see in K-12 education. 

The University of Wyoming’s College of Education, the State Board of Education and the Wyoming Department of Education have also been involved in efforts to move toward competency-based education. 

Seventeen schools applied for the pilot program. 

Wyoming’s Future of Learning — a state coalition made of Gordon’s office, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, the Wyoming Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the University of Wyoming College of Education — voted unanimously to choose the nine districts. 

Those districts include Albany 1, Converse 1, Laramie 1, Lincoln 1, Park 6, Park 16, Sweetwater 2, Teton 1 and Weston 7, encompassing urban and rural communities and providing statewide representation, the statement says. 

Under the pilot, school districts and students will focus on subject mastery rather than test scores or classroom time. Students will have more ability to customize their learning. Experiences outside of the classroom and demonstrated knowledge and skills will have more emphasis. 

The pilot will have four areas of focus: competency-based learning, flexible pathways, personalized learning and student choice. 

Participating districts will have diverse approaches to these focuses meant to align with their particular communities.