Personalized learning seems like a simple concept—basically, customize teaching and learning to students’ individual academic strengths and weaknesses and even their personal interests.
But the reality is that the concept is creating quite a bit of confusion and frustration in the K-12 world. What is (and isn’t) personalized learning? How much control should students have over when, how, and what they learn? And what about the potential overuse of digital tools in personalized learning programs?
Yet at the same time, there is energy and optimism around the argument that this approach is just what is needed to fuel students’ intellectual curiosity and prepare them for a world in which personalization seems to be everywhere—except in K-12 education.
That tension between confusion and optimism is playing out in schools across the country as they struggle to clarify what this concept means and make it work to improve teaching and learning.
Students in Christina Hanna and Kelly Pollack’s class spread out as they work on assignments at Chicago International Charter School West Belden. Hanna and Pollack co-teach the class of about 60 3rd and 4th graders.
Third grader Steven Pena, 8, does his schoolwork alongside classmates at Chicago International Charter School West Belden. The school has a 1-to-1 computing program, but is trying to create a better balance between the use of technology and the development of interpersonal skills.
Gabriella De La Cruz, left, a 5th grader at Pleasant View Elementary School, helps her friend Christina Maina with long division. The school is in the Providence, R.I. district, which is transitioning to a focus on personalized learning.
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