By LISA FLEISHER
In elementary school, John Perez was left in the dust if he hadn't mastered a concept by the teacher's second or third explanation. The whole class would move onto something else.
Now in sixth grade at Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, John doesn't feel that way any longer. A computer algorithm tracks his progress through daily quizzes and adjusts his schedule based on which skills he's mastered. Each day, he is grouped with students learning at his skill level.
"You're always learning at your own pace," said John, 11 years old. "You're never behind."
John's school is one of four in the city to adopt this year a highly touted program known as School of One, which offers the type of personalization that officials see as the future of the nation's largest school system. Five city public schools now use the program, which has been launched under a different name in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
The program was started in New York City three years ago and was named one of the 50 best inventions of 2009 by Time Magazine. In its application for $40 million from the Obama administration's Race to the Top education grant program, the city pledged to make a "systemic shift in which schools adopt a student-centered approach" through programs like School of One. New York City was named one of 61 finalists last month.
The program has proved popular with teachers and students, but its expansion comes amid data showing mixed results on test scores.
Joy Sandell, right, helps John Perez in math class at Middle School 88.
On its Race to the Top application, the city touted the positive test results from School of One students, pointing particularly to gains by lower-scoring students. The number of students failing state math exams, for instance, fell at a rate three times that of the city average in 2012, and students made bigger gains than the national average on a standardized exam called TerraNova, the application said.
At Intermediate School 228, a school in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn that now has had the most experience with School of One, sixth- and eighth-graders made bigger test score gains than the citywide average this spring, while seventh-graders performed slightly worse than the citywide average, according to test-score data.
But a study by New York University's Research Alliance for New York City Schools found mixed results in 2011. Of the three schools, one had positive results, another had negative and the third was neutral.
That was the first full year of test scores for School of One, and the study's authors warned against drawing broad conclusions from one year of data. The Research Alliance's board includes schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew.
Some observers said it isn't clear yet whether the School of One program is a success.
"They're not yet the point where they've got a good picture either of how to implement this well, or the long-term effects on student learning," said Aaron Pallas, a professor of sociology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
School of One has grown fitfully since its debut as a summer program in 2009. So far, the program has cost $7.5 million total, all paid for by anonymous donors, a Department of Education spokesman said.
The program was developed internally by a city employee who left to create a nonprofit that now runs the operations for the city. Critics have said that's a conflict of interest, but schools officials say it was cleared with the Conflict of Interest Board.
In 2010, three schools took it on full-time, but two dropped it after one year. Principals didn't return requests for comment at either school. This year, the city's expanding to four more schools using a $5 million federal grant and another $1 million in philanthropy.
David Weiner, the deputy chancellor in charge of innovation, said the two schools didn't drop out because of test results. He said Middle School 131 in Chinatown put the program "on hold" while focusing on increasing enrollment. At the other, Intermediate School 339 in the Bronx, the principal and leadership team left, and the school was targeted for closure for unrelated reasons, Mr. Weiner said.
The program attempts to solve an age-old problem for teachers: What to do with students in the same class who learn at different speeds.
At M.S. 88 in the South Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, School of One is set up in an extra-long room divided by bookcases. Six teachers work with 106 students. Some students sit in a traditional setting—in front of a teacher with other children who have mastered the same skills. Others plop in front of a computer, watching a video or playing math games. There are also virtual tutors.
M.S. 88 teachers and students said they weren't concerned with test scores. They simply said they liked the method better.
One teacher, Aaron Kaswell, said he used to struggle to help students learn math at their own pace. He would create a few different versions of work sheets, some with tougher problems than others, but there would always be whiz kids who breezed through while other sixth-graders sat stumped. "What would I do for that kid who then solves all those complicated problems and is ready for the next skill?" said Mr. Kaswell, 32.
The students gushed about how their friends at other schools were jealous that they were able to use computers during math.
"They just have a book," said Sabreen Zinzani, 11.
There have been technical glitches. One day in October, the teachers groaned when a technical assistant said a pile of attendance data entered into the system the night before had been wiped out. At one school, the Internet was down for the day, which meant the classes had to revert to paper and pencil.
While the daily quizzes can set off alarms for adults who think standardized tests play too big a role in children's lives, students said it was no big deal.
Aaron Morales, 11, said he appreciated the practice: He would be better prepared for those all-important state tests in the spring. "When you get to the math state tests, you'll know how to do it," he said. "And you'll pass."
A version of this article appeared December 10, 2012, on page A23 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Schools Test Personalized Math Program.
