A Consistent Digital Experience for Every Student at CPS

Chesapeake Public Schools is a large, forward-thinking district in Virginia that recognizes a simple truth: modern classrooms exist both within four walls and across digital touchpoints. A learning management system (LMS) connects in- and out-of-school learning experiences, but if it doesn’t integrate with the district's other tools, staff members spend time and energy manually entering data across platforms.

Without standardized expectations, students walked into different “digital classrooms” every time they switched periods. Navigation styles and tool layouts varied from one click to the next. The leadership team at Chesapeake knew that to reach the peak of personalized learning, they had to create digital environments that mirrored the high-quality instruction already taking place in physical classrooms.

As district leaders mapped out a more cohesive digital path, the conversation shifted to what they believed about education and technology as a district. They recognized that digital investments are only as effective as they are usable for staff and impactful for students. More than an LMS and an assessment tool, Chesapeake leaders wanted a single hub. Or as Chief Technology Innovation Officer Dr. Jeff Faust put it,  “We moved from looking for a product to looking for a hub—a communication hub, a grading hub, and a learning hub. When you have multiple products speaking the same language, the tech tools finally get out of the way of the teaching.”

Chesapeake also prioritized a phased rollout. Canvas Technical Admin & Mastery Connect Admin Mary Stinnette explained that their strategy was, “to create a system that was sustainable. We wanted to build a digital foundation that was so solid, the teaching and learning could just sit on top of it without any friction.”

After choosing Canvas as their LMS in 2020, the team began by building bridges between technical administration and everyday classroom practices, with support from a dedicated learning consultant at Instructure. With a rock-solid technical foundation, administrators, coaches, and teachers could learn the LMS and make it work in their specific contexts. Since Canvas communicated directly with the district’s student information system (SIS), the team eliminated the need for manual data entry—a move that Assistant Director of Technology Innovation and Integration Thomas Coker noted “convinced a lot of minds” they were onto something good and sustainable.

To fuel the transition and evolution, the district twice hosted the Canvas Learning Institute, which helped equip building leaders to bring best practices back to their professional learning communities.

But just because something saves time doesn’t mean it comes without strategic change management. As Dr. Faust pointed out, “The Canvas experience is foundational, but we had to give everybody the grace to get up and running with it at the speed that their comfort allowed.”

The move to a unified digital environment has created a smoother experience for admins, teachers, students, and families. With data freely flowing from their SIS and technical hurdles cleared, the district began blueprinting courses across all grade levels. Dr. Michael Horton has blueprinted seven courses, which are now associated with 947 courses to date. With a common foundational structure to build upon, teachers create courses where every student—regardless of their school or subject—encounters identical naming conventions, headers, and navigation.

At Chesapeake Virtual Academy (CVA), Administrator Dr. Kelli Jordan has observed that digital consistency supports student well-being, noting that frustration decreases with intuitive, user-friendly navigation. Elementary teacher Megan Chappell noted that even her kindergartners in CVA can navigate modules and upload evidence of work entirely on their own.

With a consistent, unified learning hub in Canvas, Chesapeake has built a culture of excellence ready for the next decade. Dr. Faust concluded, "Success for us is building a sustainable, long-term culture... our teachers feel empowered and prepared to meet new challenges because the foundation is so strong."