Early results for personalized learning

An interim report for a RAND Corporation study on personalized-learning practices in the classroom, underwritten by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, finds participating students have significantly greater gains in math and reading over the last two years than a virtual control group of similar students at comparable schools. The concept of personalized learning is evolving as new models, approaches, and supporting technologies emerge, but many of the early-adopting schools appear to implement similar practices. Each school in the study has undertaken one or more key, personalized-learning practices: learner profiles, personal learning paths, competency-based progression, and/or flexible learning environments. Two-thirds of teachers from the 23 participating schools use learner profiles and learning plans for students, and 86 percent said they pace instruction based on student need. Teachers also report higher expectations that translate into a change in school culture, with more emphasis on college-going. While all 23 schools in the interim study are public charter schools, the next stage of research includes 29 additional charter and district schools. The report is the first in a series of an ongoing long-term study of schools using a variety of approaches to personalized learning to identify the most promising and important features of these school models, and to document challenges schools face as they implement them. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.