Personalizing Education

Promoting Student Agency

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Personalized Learning

• In the diverse and ever-changing world of educational technology, the

term "personalized learning" seems to be everywhere

• There is not yet a shared understanding of what it means

• It contains efforts to tailor lessons to

students of different ability levels

and educational needs and desires

—an appealing concept

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)/Response to Intervention (RtI)

Three-Tiered Instructional/Intervention Model

Collaborative Problem Solving

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Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)/Response to Intervention (RtI)

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Personalized Learning

To facilitate the academic success of each student by:

• Determining the learning needs, interests, and aspirations of

individual students

• Providing learning experiences that are customized—

to a greater or lesser extent—for each student

To accomplish this goal, schools, teachers, guidance counselors, and

other educational specialists may employ a wide variety of

educational methods:

• Intentionally cultivating strong and trusting student-adult relationships

• Modifying assignments and instructional strategies in the classroom

• Entirely redesigning the ways in which students are grouped and taught in a school

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The 360° Teaching with Technology Model

Questions to ask when you are trying to personalize learning:

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What might this look like?

• Reconfiguring the operational and educational structure of a large

school

• Students are organized into smaller groups and paired with a consistent

team of teachers who get to know the students and their learning needs

well

• Smaller learning communities – teaming and theme-based academies

• “Schools-within-a-School”—creation of distinct academic programs, or

“schools,” within the operational structure of larger school

• In Broward – Innovative and Magnet Programs

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What might this look like?

• Eliminating heterogeneous grouping - the practice

of grouping students into different academic

“tracks” or tiered course levels based on their

perceived ability or past academic performance

• Teachers may employ a variety of personalized

instructional and academic support strategies

generally called differentiation, differentiated

learning, or differentiated instruction

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What might this look like?

• Schools may create or offer students a variety of learning pathways—i.e., a wider and more

diverse selection of learning experiences – Broward Virtual School

• Career-related internships that allow students to satisfy school graduation requirements or meet

state-required learning standards- Technical Colleges and CTACE

• Dual and Career Dual Enrollment experiences – Technical Colleges and High School Articulation

Programs with FIU, FAU, and Broward College

• Accelerate learning – College Academy – Graduate high school with an AA degree,

Broward Virtual School (elementary, middle, and high school courses)

• Independent-study projects, which allow students to self-design learning experiences in

collaboration with a teacher, mentor, or advisor

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What might this look like?• Students create and maintain personal learning plans

• Plans describe academic, collegiate, and career goals while mapping

out the educational decisions they need to make to achieve their goals

• Portfolios - cumulative record of a student’s academic work and

accomplishments

• Teachers, advisors, and educational specialists use plans and portfolios

to guide how they teach and support specific students.

NAVIANCE – Connecting Learning and Life - Naviance is a comprehensive

college and career readiness solution for middle and high schools that

helps

align student strengths and interests to post-secondary goals, and

improve

student outcomes.

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What might this look like?

• Replacing more traditional homeroom periods or study halls with advisory sessions

• Time in the school day for educators to meet with small groups of students and

advise them on academic, social, and postsecondary-planning issues

• Students paired with advisors, adult mentors, or peer mentors who meet

regularly with students over the course of several months, a year, or multiple years

• Help students acclimate to a school, navigate educational options, or plan for

higher education and careers after graduation

New High School Schedules – A/B Block offering 8 classes per year, 1 class offered as an

advisory session

Pompano Beach High School – 4-day school week/Friday remediation and assistance

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What might this look like?

Using alternative educational approaches and instructional practices:

• Authentic learning• Blended learning• Community-based learning• Project-based learning

Give students more personal choice in their education and more

opportunities

Pursue learning experiences that reflect their personal interests, career

aspirations, or cultural heritage.

A variety of digital and online learning options are instituted to personalize

learning for students

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• Increasing the level of choice and personal responsibility students have in the instructional process 

• Student Voice - the values, opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students in a school

• Develop instructional approaches and techniques that are based on student choices, interests, passions, and ambitions

• An alternative to traditional forms of instruction where teachers may make unilateral decisions with little or no input from students,

• Introducing more student voice into the learning process is one way to personalize learning

Technology Integration Matrix (TIM)

Higher levels of integration of technology into the curriculum promotes student choice of how to express understanding of concepts.

Lessons are structured so that student use of technology is self-directed. The teacher guides, informs, and contextualizes student choices of technology

tools and is flexible and open to student ideas.

What might this look like?

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• Deeper learning requires students to think, question, pursue, and create—to take agency and ownership of their learning

• When they do, they acquire deeper understanding and skills, and they become more competent learners in and out of school

• They become better prepared to succeed in academics, in 21st century careers and in life

• We can’t force students to develop agency and drive their own learning. It must come from within.

• Deeper learning instructional practices: Student-centered and self-directed learning methods Encouraging collaboration – Distance Learning Projects Incorporating real-world projects, interviews, case studies

and explorations – Global Scholars Program

Student Agency

What do students need in order to get in the driver’s seat, take agency, and dive deep? And how do we help them do so?

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PATHWAYS TO PERSONALIZED LEARNING WEBINAR LINK

Pathways to Personalized Learning

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Benefits and Challenges

Center for Digital Learning, Pathways to Personalized Learning, 2013. Retrieved from http://825d0007e19cfb8330f5-793aa0e2839afbbc4a0b9a46376ed589.r13.cf1.rackcdn.com/CDE13+SRQ3.pdf

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Next Steps

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Your Thoughts?