Building Interest-Based Personalized Learning Into Public Schools

• In Event: 43.010 - Connected Learning and Equitable Participation for Youth: Bridging the Home-School Participation Gap

Abstract

Objectives
Personalized learning is a collection of school reform ideas that educators use for customizing schooling to the interests and needs of students. In schools that struggle to meet the needs of all students, however, interest-based initiatives are often pushed to the margins in favor of standards-driven instructional programs. Drawing on a study of over 20 personalized learning initiatives in a variety of K-12 settings, this paper considers how educators in three public schools establish the conditions for interest-based learning during the regular school day, and discuss how the roles of teachers and learners change in these initiatives.

Theoretical Framework
Personalized learning describes a variety of ideas, tools and programs for designing instruction to fit student interests and needs (Pane et al., 2017), and we have identified three common components. First, educators use data-driven assessment to identify student learning needs, and design instruction accordingly. Response to Intervention and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports provide models for data-driven needs identification and whole-school approaches for customizing instruction to individual students (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Sugai & Horner, (2006). Second, educators use ideas from progressive education, such as project-based learning and constructivism to design authentic learning experiences (Bransford, et al., 1999). Third, educators use learning technologies to manage instruction and create social learning opportunities (Author, 2009; Barron, 2006). Importantly, leadership in this context involves drawing on these three components to design learning environments to serve the needs and interests of all learners (Authors et al., 2015).

Methods
This paper draws from a larger qualitative study of over 20 personalized learning schools. We selected three public schools that demonstrate a range of strategies for integrating interest-based learning into the school day. At these three schools, our team did 40 interviews, 39 observations, and 8 student focus groups, and gathered 153 documents. This data was imported into MaxQDA and coded using a multi-level framework based on the three aspects of the personalized learning framework (above).

Findings
We focus on the strategies leaders and educators have developed to provide interest-based learning options for all students. First, we discuss an urban elementary school that has implemented a weekly student-designed interest-based seminar model for all learners. Second, we consider how educators personalize STEM learning in a public middle school. Finally, we present a student-designed curriculum model in a public high school-within-a-school. These examples demonstrate how educators in a selection of typical public schools use the design of the daily schedule, innovative learning technologies, and community engagement to spark interest-based learning into the regular school program.

Scholarly significance
Schools that are under pressure to achieve standards-based outcomes can squeeze interest-based learning to the margins of everyday teaching and learning. Personalized learning provides a collection of tools to meet both standards-based and interest-based learning outcomes. The three schools discussed here describe viable strategies for designing and sustaining learning environments to support interest-based learning. We propose to describe leadership for personalized learning as a design process to illustrate how educators navigate the constraints of the environment and the opportunities for customizing learning to student interests.

Authors

• Richard R. Halverson, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Julie M Kallio, University of Wisconsin - Madison