Many people would be surprised to hear that Bill and Melinda Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg visited eastern Kentucky schools in 2017, but they came to learn about the innovative and wholistic educational approaches implemented at 22 school districts that are members of the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative.  KVEC schools emphasize personalized learning, team projects, and an entrepreneurial attitude that Executive Director Jeff Hawkins thinks can make a difference in a region in need of change. This report is the first in a series from the Ohio Valley Resource that look into how these school districts are working together to to find ways to address some of the country’s most profound economic and public health problems.