Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for The 74, Susan Patrick shares what she has learned after visiting a number of different schools and examining how they are changing the classroom culture by adopting personalized learning. 

· How can donors support efforts to transform K-12 education toward a more fitting system for the 21st century?  

· Here's more on personalized learning and school culture. 

I regularly visit schools as part of my work at iNACOL, but over the past two years, my 80-plus visits have been part of an investigation on the transformation of instructional practices toward personalized learning in schools across the United States.

We saw classrooms break free of stifling practices like uniform rows of desks, teachers standing and delivering lessons to passive learners, and students being dulled into submission by bells and other traditional cues. In their place at these innovative public and charter schools were teachers and students engaged in inquiry, students acting as active agents in their learning, and teachers working tremendously hard to create settings that catered to all their students’ needs and crafting instruction to shape jointly developed learning experiences.

The level of excitement for personalized learning is high, as we reported in our national landscape scan. Teachers told us they incorporated personalized learning – or aspects of it – because it aligned to “what it means to be a teacher” and why they entered the profession in the first place. Students were blossoming, saying their teachers took time to get to know them personally and they were becoming more confident in voicing their needs and taking action to improve, a lifelong skill we know is required for success in our rapidly changing society.

Read the full article about classroom culture and personalized learning by Susan Patrick at The 74.