FullScale today announced the honorees of the inaugural FullScale Symposium Awards, which recognize individuals and organizations advancing personalized, competency-based, and whole-child approaches to education. Honorees were celebrated on October 9, 2026, during the FullScale Symposium at the Indianapolis Convention Center.
The awards honor innovators working across the education ecosystem, from educators and school leaders working directly with students to the networks, policy advocates, and researchers building conditions for change at the state and national level. Honorees were nominated by members of the field earlier in 2026 and selected by a committee of experts in K-12 student-centered learning using a rubric.
“This year’s honorees show what learner-centered education looks like when it takes root in real classrooms, districts, and states,” said Virgel Hammonds, Co-CEO of FullScale. “The awards program is grounded in FullScale's core belief that every learner has boundless potential—and that together, we can unlock it. These awards aim to honor the full ecosystem of changemakers: those working directly with students, those building networks and coalitions, those shaping policy and systems, and those generating evidence and research that moves the field forward.”
The 2026 FullScale Symposium Award honorees are:
Educator of the Year: Trisha Carlson, Linderman Education Center, Kalispell School District 5 (Montana)
Trisha Carlson, an English teacher at Linderman Education Center, has been a primary driver in building and sustaining personalized, competency-based structures at a school designed to meet learners where they are. Her students progress at their own pace, take ownership of their learning, and pursue their own interests and strengths. Carlson is known for the trusting relationships she builds with students and colleagues and for a steady belief that every learner is capable of success.
System Leader of the Year: James Hill, Executive Director, The Match High School (Indiana)
Over a 30-year career in Minnesota and Indiana, James Hill has turned education research into practice at scale. In Marion County, he designed and secured board adoption of a unified K–12 competency-based framework that moves away from seat-time requirements and standardized pacing. His work connects personalized academics with local industry needs, and he has built equity commitments directly into district governance.
Collective Impact Award: Alaska Society for Technology in Education (Alaska)
Since 1981, the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) has connected educators across Alaska around a shared commitment to student success. ASTE brings together classroom teachers, librarians, district administrators, and higher education faculty to support meaningful, well-planned technology integration in classrooms statewide.
Catalyst of the Year: Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) (Arizona)
For more than 20 years, Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) has convened Arizona stakeholders around the state’s most pressing challenges. By connecting educators, communities, partners, and policymakers around a shared purpose, CFA helps promising ideas take root and turns momentum into lasting, systems-level change that reflects Arizonans’ priorities.
Ecosystem Change Agent: KnowledgeWorks
KnowledgeWorks works with more than 25 states to advance student-centered education policy, helping states move from exploration to statewide transformation. Its work spans practice, educator development, policy, and progress measurement at the local, state, and national levels, with support for networks, cross-sector partnerships, and educator capacity building.
Community Choice Award: Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies (North Carolina)
Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies earned the Community Choice Award for its student-led presentation on its J-term strategic initiative, which replaces traditional annual student portfolios with a competency-based demonstration model. The initiative is inspired by the school’s goal that every graduating senior will achieve all six of its Portrait of a Graduate competencies by 2029.
The awards were presented during the 2026 FullScale Symposium, held October 8–10 in Indianapolis, which brought together educators, district and state leaders, policymakers, funders, and education innovators from across the country. The program included mainstage conversations with Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Amy Loyd, and Bezos Family Foundation President Bill Hite, along with the new Learning Labs, a team-based engagement for school and system teams working toward student-centered learning.
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FullScale is a national non-profit organization that unites education leaders and organizations to drive collective learning, action, and systems transformation. Formed through the merger of The Learning Accelerator and Aurora Institute, FullScale works to break silos, bridge divides, surface new evidence and unseen innovations, and accelerate change for lasting impact for every learner. Through its work spanning practice, policy, research, and people, FullScale helps build the conditions needed to ensure every child has access to personalized, competency-based, whole-child learning experiences. Learn more at fullscalelearning.org.
