Giving Compass' Take:

• The Learning Accelerator hopes to provide better learning experiences by strategically providing more opportunities for diverse learners to thrive in personalized learning classrooms.

• How can other schools adopt the same approach and adjust their blended/personalized learning curriculum to factor in alternative learning paths? Are educators sharing best practices?

• Read about the one year report on Raising Blended Learners, a Texas initiative to support all types of learners in a blended curriculum. 

With support and feedback from the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), we recently launched a three-part “Problem of Practice” series focused on supporting diverse learners utilizing specific strategies from the Blended and Personalized Learning.

Being strategic about how we support our diverse learners within innovative models is key to ensuring an equitable education for all students.

Diverse learners often stand to benefit the most from personalized practices that promote student ownership and agency (if done right) but also stand to suffer the most when only given limited opportunities to make learning choices and engage in meaningful peer collaboration and social interactions.

At TLA, we too believe that in order for personalized and blended learning to be successful for diverse learners, we need to be intentional and strategic around designing instruction. We must ensure rigor around not only content but social and emotional skills, as well as educator training and allocation to best support ALL learners.

To address these specific challenges, the three new Problems of Practice were designed as a way for educators to explore not only the “why” but also the “how” of implementing best practices for diverse learners in a concrete and tangible manner.

Problem of Practice 1: How do I strategically instruct diverse learners in a personalized learning classroom?

  • Connecting IEPs to Learner Plans
  • Team Teaching & the Multi-age Classroom Approach
  • Integrating UDL: Whole-Class Inclusion

Problem of Practice 2: How do I ensure rigor and high expectations for the whole student in blended/personalized learning classroom?

  • Content Expectations
  • Social and Emotional/Non-cognitive Skills

Problem of Practice 3: How can strategic staffing better serve diverse learners?

  • Reinventing the Special Education Teacher Role
  • Training General Education Teachers and Leaders
  • Lowering the Teacher-Student Ratio Through Creative Hiring

Read the full article about supporting diverse learners by Juliana Finegan at The Learning Accelerator