Giving Compass' Take:

• This Getting Smart post highlights the work of Rhode Island's Highlander Institute in developing personalized learning as a strategy for transforming an entrenched education system.

• What might other schools learn from Highlander's example? How can we develop better practices in the personalized learning space, and what would be the metrics for impact?

• Here are six key factors of personalized learning that will prepare today’s students.

“If our goal is to provide every public school students with an education leveraging individual strengths, identities, and interests in order to produce learners who feel engaged, inspired, and motivated, then school must look and feel fundamentally different.”

After coming to that conclusion, Shawn Rubin and Cathy Sanford decided to outline a change process based on a decade of lessons in a new book, Pathways to Personalization: A Framework for School Change.

Rubin (@ShawnCRubin), a former primary teacher, is Chief Education Officer at Highlander Institute. Cathy Sanford (@csanford42) directs special projects at the Highlander.

By supporting lead educators and convening school teams, Highlander Institute has lead Rhode Island’s transition to blended and personalized learning since 2011.

For his statewide leadership, Rubin won iNACOL’s Outstanding Individual Contribution to Personalized Learning Award for 2017. In his acceptance speech, he said, “There are no stock solutions,” and “we’re in the early and messy days of this work.” The book reflects these sentiments and promotes an organic teacher-centered approach to improving personalization.

The framework recognizes three key roles: a change agent, a design team, and a group of pilot teacher.

Read the full article about pathways to personalization in schools by Tom Vander Ark at Getting Smart.