
Two of the biggest names in technology and education philanthropy – Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg – are jointly funding a $12 million initiative to support “personalized learning” in schools across the country. When any new educational strategy receives money and attention, questions arise. What is “personalized learning,” and why could this approach matter to your gifted student? Personalized learning (“PL”) is a specific type of instruction that creates a learning environment that responds to individual student needs. Clint Christopher, Associate Superintendent of Eastern Carver County Schools in Minnesota, has described PL as education that “Allows [gifted students] to continue learning at a pace that works for them, so that, as they move forward, [educators] are not artificially putting a lid on their learning.”
Here are four quick facts to help you understand more about the method that CEOs and philanthropists like Gates and Zuckerberg are investing millions to support:
- Personalized learning and technology work together. PL itself is not a new concept. But contemporary interpretations of the PL model seek to adapt the pace of learning and the instructional strategies with technology to help match each child with customized learning experiences.
- PL can be experienced in many forms. In practice, the term “PL” is used to describe many types of experiences. For example, a student in a PL program could take automated assessments that provide precise, personalized progress reports. PL could also be experienced through online courses.
- Personalized learning is different from ability grouping and acceleration. PL is tailored to the individual child rather than based on groups. Personalized learning is also different from acceleration, although the two approaches are similar. Acceleration refers to programs like subject-specific acceleration (e.g., moving ahead in math), starting school early, graduating early, Advanced Placement, etc. Acceleration programs themselves still rely on a kind of standardization, with score cutoffs and required testing. This is different from the premise of PL, which is that every student has a unique combination of individual skills, abilities, and preferences, so that no educational experience should be the same.
- One assessment of PL suggests that it may help close the achievement gap. Recently, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ (“CMS”) Department of Research, Evaluation, and Analytics in North Carolina conducted its second evaluation of what they called the Personalized Learning Initiative. This initiative compared results of students who had and had not participated in a PL program in math and reading for gifted students, as well as by racial group. Certain subgroups showed higher achievement gains in PL environments than in regular learning environments, specifically African American students. CMS also found that, in math, Personalized Learning gifted students showed more growth than the gifted students who had not received PL. The authors note that understanding the factors involved in this difference could lead to the development of better methods for closing achievement gaps.
Personalized Learning: Uncharted Territory?
These four quick facts tell the story of what is known about Personalized Learning, but much remains unknown. Although PL has been embraced by some researchers and educators as a great way to meet the demands of an increasingly diverse student population, there still is not much evidence on PL’s effectiveness. Also, there is even some criticism that personalized learning boils down to kids working alone on software, an approach that some say ignores the crucial social aspects of learning and reduces teachers to the role of “facilitators.” As more and more research emerges on this trend, we look forward to continuing to monitor and report what this could mean for your gifted child.
Individualized learning has been around for a while, but this article seems to be based on a computer doing the teaching. My students thrive on the hands on activities they do with their classmates.
I AGREE WITH JOSE AND SHANNON , WE NEED MORE INTERACTIVE EDUCATION AND DO MORE ACTIVITIES THAT INTEREST THEM , COMPUTER ARE THE SAME EVERY DAY , WE NEED TO CHANGE A LITTLE TO BE LIKE AN OLD SCHOOL AGAIN 50/50 TO RECOVERY THAT
I agree with Shannon. They need interactive with the different environments and we the parents need to learn to give to them the guide to help them find subjects and activities that interest them. Is not just the activities in the school and community around. They need explore beyond. We need to understand the world in this matter and looking for the best adaptation for our children.
I was really interested in reading the article based on the title. However, I was disappointed about half way through when I realized it really sounded like a fancy way to promote computer based learning. There is so much more to education that cannot be taught online. Children need to learn to work in groups, speak to an audience, have respectful conversations where differing opinions are offered, evaluate multiple ideas for solving a problem, hands on learning, and much more. Gifted students should have opportunities to learn through engaging work of all kinds on all different mediums or tools. They also need to be in environments where they learn social norms, make friends, and learn life skills not necessarily taught in books.