Special Report
Personalized Learning Infographic

Personalized Learning: A Working Definition

October 20, 2014 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A group of philanthropies and school and technology advocacy groups, with contributions from educators, compiled a four-part “working definition” of the attributes of personalized learning. They also identified critical questions for K-12 officials to consider in implementing personalized learning.

Competency-Based Progression
Each student’s progress toward clearly-defined goals is continually assessed. A student advances and earns credit as soon as he/she demonstrates mastery.

Flexible Learning Environments
Student needs drive the design of the learning environment. All operational elements—staffing plans, space utilization and time allocation—respond and adapt to support students in achieving their goals.

Personal Learning Paths
All students are held to clear, high expectations, but each student follows a customized path that responds and adapts based on his/her individual learning progress, motivations, and goals.

Learner Profiles
Each student has an up-to-date record of his/her individual strengths, needs, motivations, and goals.

Ongoing Assessment
In what ways and how frequently should we assess each student’s level of mastery within the dimensions that we believe are essential for his/her success?
Operational Alignment
How might we deliver all of the learning experiences that our students need, with the resources we have available? What flexibility is in the design to enable us to respond and adapt to changing student needs?
Personalized Learning Plans
How can we ensure that each student has a learning plan that takes into account his/her strengths, changing needs, motivations, and goals?
Strengths & Needs
How do we capture each student’s current level of mastery within each of the dimensions that we believe are essential for his/her success (e.g. academic standards, skills)? How can we highlight students’ academic gaps to draw attention to their individual needs?
Individual Advancement
Can individual students pursue new learning experiences as soon as they have mastered the prerequisite content? How can students attain course credit based on mastery?
Staffing & Roles
In what ways might we structure teacher and other educator roles to support our instructional vision? What flexibility is needed to enable our staff to respond and adapt to changing student needs?
Varied Learning Experiences (Modalities)
What types of experiences (e.g. complex tasks, experiential learning) do students need to achieve their goals? What are the ideal methods for delivering (e.g. small group instruction, one-on-one tutoring, online learning) these experiences?
Motivations
How might we support each student in understanding and articulating his/her interests and aspirations?
Time Allocation
In what ways might we maximize the time each student spends pursuing his/her goals? How might our student and staff schedules respond and adapt to changing student needs?
Student Ownership
In what ways might we enable students to develop and manage their own learning paths?
Information & Feedback
In what ways and how frequently might we provide timely, actionable information and feedback to students, teachers, and families?
Space Utilization
How can the design of the physical space support our instructional vision? Can we use spaces beyond our walls, and if so, how?
Goals
How might we support each student in setting personalized goals within each dimension that we believe is essential for his/her success? In what ways and how frequently might we ask students to reflect on their progress and adjust their goals accordingly?
Grouping & Connections
How should we group students to enable the varied learning experiences we hope to offer and modify to their changing needs? In what ways might we facilitate personal connections among students, and between students and adults?

See Also

School & District Management What Is 'Personalized Learning'? Educators Seek Clarity
Education technology advocates, philanthropies, and others are trying to create a clearer definition of what qualifies as "personalized learning," one of the most popular terms in education today.
Sean Cavanagh, October 20, 2014
9 min read

Sources: Developed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Afton Partners, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, CEE Trust, the Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, Charter School Growth Fund, EDUCAUSE, iNACOL, the Learning Accelerator, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Silicon Schools, and educators

Design & Visualization: Stacey Decker

Coverage of personalized learning and systems leadership in Education Week and its special reports is supported in part by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.

A version of this article appeared in the October 22, 2014 edition of Education Week as Personalized Learning: A Working Definition

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Personalized Learning 5 Essential Ingredients for Effective Tutoring
Experts outline what it takes to put in place tutoring programs that improve academic achievement.
2 min read
Young woman learning online
Tirachard/iStock/Getty
Personalized Learning Spotlight Spotlight on Personalized Learning
This Spotlight will help you learn effective strategies for tailoring instruction to individual students and more.

Personalized Learning Schools Are Spending Big Bucks on Online Tutoring. Here’s What They’ve Learned
Students need more than "homework help" to recover from pandemic learning loss. Is online tutoring up to the task?
8 min read
Young girl working at home with her teacher or tutor on the laptop in front of her.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
Personalized Learning Opinion To Combat Learning Loss, Schools Need to Overhaul the Industrial-Age Paradigm
One educator-turned-entrepreneur argues that innovative content providers can—and should—do more to sustain learning for students and teachers.
5 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty