Giving Compass' Take:

• In this interview with Richard Culatta, who helped lead Rhode Island's Personalized Learning Initiative in 2016 sheds light on why personalized learning needs technology to succeed.

• How are educators following this advice? Is it possible for personalized learning to become successful in one classroom without school-wide support for tech?

• Read about how online resources help personalized learning.

Personalized learning can be done anywhere, but to do it well, change is required in every tier of a school system.

That’s the view of Richard Culatta, who helped lead Rhode Island’s Personalized Learning Initiative in 2016 with a mission of spreading this model of learning across the state and developing best practices in laboratory schools.

Part of the challenge is that the phrase, which is growing in popularity, is very difficult to define. Some districts are quick to equate personalized learning with technology alone — a mentality that has caused many to fail, said Culatta, who now leads the International Society for Technology in Education, a global nonprofit organization that shares best practices in education technology among its nearly 16,000 members.

“You can’t buy personalized learning,” Culatta said — but “I’ve never seen a successful implementation of personalized learning without some tech to support it.”

Read the full interview with Richard Culatta about personalized learning at The 74.