New Rand Report on personalized learning

A July 2017 report from Rand report identifies four approaches to personalizing learning (excerpted from the report Insights on Personalized Learning Implementation and Effects):

1. Learner profiles, or “a record of each student’s individual strengths, needs, motivations, progress, and goals based on data from all available sources.”
2. Personal learning paths, or opportunities for “flexibility in the specific path students take through content to enact their educational plan, while still holding them to high expectations. Within parameters set by teachers, students can make choices about the content or structure of learning, and the school offers a variety of instructional approaches and curriculum materials, including support for meaningful learning experiences outside of school.”
3. Competency-based progression, in which “a student advances at his or her own pace and earns course credit (if applicable) as soon as he or she demonstrates an adequate level of competency.”
4. Flexible learning environments, “which imply that the school adapts the use of resources such as staff, space, and time to best support personalization.”

“One finding rings out: the need to support teachers. Teachers need time, resources, and professional learning to make personalization work. The Rand report makes clear that the idea shows promise. That promise can only be realized with highly capable teachers.”
 
Policy Recommendations from the Rand Report
• Ensure that accountability policies value growth and other metrics of student success.
• Revise grading policies to incorporate competency based approaches, and clearly communicate these approaches to students, families, employers, and postsecondary education institutions.
• Provide teachers with the resources and time to pilot new instructional approaches and gather evidence of how well they work.
• Provide teachers with time and resources to collaborate on developing curriculum and on reviewing and scoring student work.
• Provide resources and support for school staff to help them choose the most-appropriate digital or non digital curriculum materials.”

To read more, and to access the full report follow this link.