State, Local Policies Seen to Slow Personalized Learning

Digital advancements force policymakers to rethink rules

By Ian Quillen

As momentum for customized, online instruction grows, its supporters say the biggest obstacle to implementing more adaptive curricula and personalized approaches isn't popular will, but state and local policies.

Often those policies date from a time when phrases like "distance learning" and "blended approach" conjured images of a telegraph wire and a home economics course, and when educational jurisdiction had to be defined by place and time.

Now that technology holds the potential to erase both limitations, K-12 education is at a policy crossroads, experts in educational technology policy say, as seat-time requirements, school funding models, textbook-adoption procedures, and teacher-certification requirements restrict the growth and effectiveness...