The Senate Education Committee held a presentation on Tuesday afternoon on the Flexible Pathways Initiative, created by Act 77 of 2013, which encourages and supports the creativity of school districts as they develop and expand high-quality educational experiences that are an integral part of secondary education in the evolving 21^st century classroom. 

• Expansion of the existing statewide Dual Enrollment Program
• Expansion of the Early College Program
• Increased access to work-based learning
• Increased virtual/blended learning opportunities
• Increased access to Career and Technical Education
• Implementation of Personalized Learning

Seven students then presented a slide on their experience and support of Act 77.  As an example, one student said that, through Flexible Pathways, they have been able to advance their learning on several subjects and have felt as though “my specific interests are something that I can focus on,” when the course is not offered at school.  I’ve also had support in the school through all of this.

The presentation ended with recommendations:

1. Exploring, supporting and strengthening connections between schools and community partners.
2. Continued development, sharing and professional learning of resources for Act 77 related concepts.
3. Increasing access to flexible pathways options, in particular through supporting innovative individuals and small programs at schools.               

Local Level:

• Development of programs to support personalized learning.
• Community and family outreach and engagement into schools.               

State level:

• Connecting the dots between portrait of a graduate, flexible pathways and post-secondary learning, including state level definitions of terms.
• Funding for small programs, for teacher licensure, instruction, flexible pathways coordinators, etc.