Students and first-grade teacher Jennifer Combs at Jacks Valley Elementary School welcome educators during the Modern Learning Conference school tours on Monday.
Photo by Sarah Drinkwine.
Douglas County Schools showed off their EPIC District on Monday during the 2025 Modern Learning Conference.
More than 300 educators from across the U.S. traveled to Nevada to see instructional practices related to personalized learning in action.
The Modern Learning Conference unites educators, coaches, and leaders to learn from other school districts and the evolving pathways of education.
Douglas County students led attendees on tours around their schools at Jacks Valley Elementary, Minden Elementary, Pau-Wa-Lu Middle and Douglas High schools.
“It’s great to showcase the things that are going on in our district,” said Assistant Director of Educational Services Leslie Peters. “We are honored to serve as a host for the national conference and to showcase our district.”
On the tours students were eager to share what they have been learning.
At Jacks Valley, second-grader Vivian Hess showed Katie Lucas from J.O. Combs Unified School District in Arizona, the writing wall which teaches students steps for writing.
“It’s been really neat to visit the schools and hear from the students about what they are learning and to take some of things back to my district,” said Lucas.
According to the Douglas County School District website, Douglas is recognized as a national role-model organization for personalized learning.
Since 2019, Douglas County School District set out to modernize learning through the Empower, Prepare Inspire, and Connect program that aims to update students’ learning experiences.
Strategies including using technology, personalizing education and giving students more of a voice in the classroom to help students meet and exceed their individual learning needs.
Through EPIC students are given a voice, choice, transparency, and ownership of their own learning.
To help implement EPIC, students across the district use “Data Notebooks,” which organizes their tests scores, and progress over various subjects including math and writing.
Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School eighth-graders Mirabelle Detsch and Sam Showley like how the Data Notebooks, keep them on track of their learning.
“I can actually see my own progress and know exactly what I need to work on,” said Detsch.
The Douglas County School District website says by giving students more agency, they become more interested in learning and are better prepared for life after high school.
“What I love about our school system is that our students are taking ownership in what they are learning,” said Douglas County School Board President Yvonne Wagstaff. “I love that we get to share this with other districts and be that light-house district.”