Giving Compass' Take:

• Matt Barnum reports that a study found that the Teach to One personalized learning program did not improve scores for students who used it over their peers. 

• How can funders work to identify effective personalized learning strategies? Why might a program like this work better for some students than others? 

• Learn about the potential benefits of personalized learning. 

A program that Bill Gates once called “the future of math” didn’t improve state test scores at schools that adopted it, according to a new study.

The research examines Teach to One, a “personalized learning” program used in schools across 11 states and which has drawn support from a number of major funders, including the Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings.

At five schools in Elizabeth, New Jersey, students who used Teach to One didn’t improve any faster than similar students who didn’t use the program, even after three years. The results underscore the limited evidence for claims that such technology programs can dramatically improve student learning, even as they have become magnets for philanthropic dollars.

“The original aspirations, that Teach to One programs were going to have huge positive effects on math scores — we can rule that out with these studies,” said Jonah Rockoff, a Columbia professor who studied an earlier iteration of the program.

Read the full article about Teach to One by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.