the 4 x 4 of personalized learning (part 4)

part four:

it’s easy to think of personalized learning as just a buzzword and have trouble imagining it working in public schools  but at 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 we know it’s actually both feasible and successful...and happening in school districts across the country. over the past few months i have shared with you 4 promises, 4 facts and 4 approaches to personalized learning. for my last post in this series, i’d like to share 4 real-life examples of where and how personalized learning is happening.

over the past five years, we have supported the work of nearly 100 districts (check out some examples of school districts that are doing personalized learning now). all of these districts have been doing a great job setting up and rolling out their personalized learning strategy. i would’ve loved to walk you through all the districts with which  ed elements is working, and share with you the outstanding work they’re doing and the amazing results they are getting; but due to the format of this blog series, i’ll limit myself to talking about only 4 of these amazing districts.

1- fulton (ga): fulton county schools is a large district near atlanta, ga that serves 96,000 students across 95 schools. fulton has worked over the past two years to plan their personalized learning initiative and brought us on board to help 90 of their schools design, implement and support personalized learning. their focus has been on thoughtful, wave-based planning with centralized support and school-level autonomy.

read more about their personalized learning implementation and strategy:

• clear signals and other lessons from a season of personalized learning at fulton county
• six personalized learning mvp moments from fulton county schools
• fulton county schools launches 3-year personalized learning transition

2- horry county schools (sc): 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 started to support horry county schools’ personalized learning journey with a single school through an nglc grant. based on the success of one school, horry rolled out personalized learning in their middle schools, then in their high schools and finally in the upper grades of their elementary schools. they have 45,000 students across the district and they have been using blended learning very successfully to provide personalized learning for every student. hcs is considered one of the most successful implementations of blended learning according to  the christensen institute. after beginning with a focus on effective usage of digital content, this year the district prioritized supporting small group instruction at all grade levels. they are looking to build upon early successes through increased student collaboration and creativity as they move forward. check out these case studies to learn more about their work and amazing results. 

• case study: scaling blended learning, the hcs way
• proof points: blended learning success in school districts: horry county schools, by the christensen institute

3- middletown (ny): the enlarged city school district of middletown is a 2012 race to the top grant award winner and we are proud to have supported them from the beginning. middletown has a four-year 'blended initiative', based on a station-rotation approach, with five integrated providers being used through highlight, our personalized-learning platform.teachers opt-in to receive classroom 1:1 devices, access to content providers and blended learning training in four separate waves of teachers throughout the four years. their model has been a great success so far -- k-8 students in the blended-learning classrooms outperformed students in non-blended classrooms by 36% in reading and 18% in math on nwea benchmark exams.

 learn more about the middletown personalized learning experience:

• case study: visionary blended learning creates opportunities for all
• case study, by the lexington institute: middletown, ny personalizes learning to narrow achievement gaps
• proof points: blended learning success in school districts: ecsdm, by the christensen institute
• the positive power of personalized learning. 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 impact report 2014-2015

4- yuma az: yuma school district one is a k-8 district in arizona and the district is proving that it is possible to transform a whole district all at once.  in august 2015, yuma launched personalized learning in all 17 of its schools, supporting this work through a bond measure that enabled them to purchase 1:1 devices (ipads) for the entire district of 9,000 students. 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 ’ work started with a pl foundations workshop in january 2015. the district is implementing blended learning as one of many strategies to personalize for individual students’ strengths, needs and interests. superintendent darwin stiffer says "personalized learning will marshal increased student engagement, bolster differentiated instruction and foster an environment of increased communication between students, educators and parents."

read more about personalized learning at yuma one:

• yuma district plans massive personalized learning
• personalizing educational excellence in the arizona desert

last year, during our first national personalized learning summit, we brought together leaders and coaches from these districts and from across the country to share their successes and their challenges, and to remind stakeholders that personalized learning is happening and is possible. we also reiterated that significant work remains to make this a reality for more -- and eventually all -- students. school districts like these four prove that, with the right leadership, mindset and support, any district can personalize learning. the summit is part of the support system to help make that happen.

the experience of learning from experts and of sharing lessons learned with peers was so powerful that we decided to make the pl summit a yearly gathering for sharing and learning.you can access the presentations and resources from  the pl summit 2015 here.

this year, the second personalized learning summit will be on may 19-20 in san francisco, ca. we’re bringing together our community of district leaders from ones that are just starting, to those farther down the path, to those who are scaling it across their schools and working on making it stick. the summit will include tech tours at a selection of the most prominent and successful companies of the bay area, numerous workshops, as well as 2 exciting keynotes, by michael b. horn, co-author of blended and disrupting class, and board member of 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率 , and dananjaya hettiarachchi, award winning speaker, toastmasters champion and corporate trainer.

the personalized learning summit is an invitation-only event, and its goal is to bring our clients and partners together, so make sure to save the date may 19-20, and to follow us on twitter @edelements #plsummit

now that you know the 4 promises, facts, approaches and examples, i’d like to leave you with a bonus: 4 ideas on how to get started:

1. sign up for our blog so you can learn more about personalized learning
2. follow us on twitter, where we share articles, ideas and photos and videos of personalized learning in action
3. join our g+ personalized learning community, where you can share resources with other districts
4. and finally, send us an email or give us a call. we’d love to help you personalize learning too!

related posts: 

the 4x4 of personalized learning, part 1 : personalized learning promises

the 4x4 of personalized learning, part 2 : personalized learning promises

the 4x4 of personalized learning, part 3: personalized learning approaches