Genius Hour as an Anchor Experience for Implementing Personalized Learning in a Vermont Middle School

• In Event: Developing Student-Focused Middle Schools

Abstract

This case study examines stakeholder perspectives on the ways that a middle school’s Genius Hour supported the broader implementation of personalized learning. The school-wide Genius Hour was perceived by students, teachers, and administrators as a success, which created buy-in for personalized learning and informed teachers’ efforts to personalize learning in their own classrooms. The authors observe that this kind of purposeful experimentation can serve as an anchor experience to support the implementation of personalized learning and other types of school transformation.

Authors

• Life LeGeros, The University of Vermont

• Steven Netcoh, University of Vermont

• Mark W. Olofson, University of Texas at El Paso

• John M. Downes, The University of Vermont

• Penny A. Bishop, The University of Vermont