Giving Compass' Take:

• Vickie Vallet-McWilliams and Melissa Mccalla share how one school district successfully made their personalized learning plan a reality. 

• How can other districts learn from the work conducted in Pasadena? What role can funders play in making the necessary changes? 

• Read about the benefits of personalized learning. 

Launching a new education initiative can be challenging unless everyone—including teachers, administrators, and parents—are on board. Fortunately, in Pasadena, we had already made some changes—like introducing one-to-one computers in classrooms—that prepared us to manage the process of change. In addition, these principles have helped us build support over the past three years.

Start Small

We started small knowing how important it would be to iron out the inevitable wrinkles and to show progress before expanding. Although our vision is to offer Connect to all students in grades 4 and above, we started in just a few grades at three schools where teachers and principals were ready to make the shift to personalized learning. Teachers and principals were—and continue to be—the driving force behind the program. They participated in Summit trainings, worked closely with leaders from Summit, and gained the support and buy-in of our district leaders.

Communicate

It is crucial to constantly communicate about the changes with the entire district community. For example, our teachers and school leaders work hard to clear up some parents’ misconceptions about personalized learning. When some parents voice concerns about how much time their children spend with technology, our educators explain that students in the program spend the majority of their time working with their teachers and classmates on hands-on projects. They also describe how these projects, along with one-on-one mentoring, help students develop key life skills that will help them succeed, such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Families can find a wealth of information about Connect through brochures, videos, and a dedicated website we created.

Show Progress

We make it a priority to demonstrate the positive impact of personalized learning on students. Students in the Connect program made big gains on annual state tests in 2016, 2017 and 2018 outperforming their peers who weren’t in the program. On the 2016 state reading test, for example, 7th graders in the Connect program scored an average of 91 percent: 14 percentage points higher than their peers who weren’t in the program, and 25 percentage points higher than the 7th graders’ average on the test in the previous year. In addition, we saw attendance rates go up and discipline referrals go down.

Listen to the Community

These improvements are important, but beyond the statistics, students, educators, and parents tell us how they have experienced firsthand the power of personalized learning. Students are more excited than ever to come to school and learn. Educators report that students are more engaged and demonstrating higher level thinking skills. Parents love having a more complete view of what their kids are doing in school, and they say they want their children to continue to have access to this type of learning throughout their education.

Read the full article about personalized learning by Vickie Vallet-McWilliams and Melissa Mccalla at Getting Smart.