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Winning in the Classroom with Your Personalized Learning Playbook

Winning in the Classroom with Your Personalized Learning Playbook

Personalized learning means different things to different people. Visit different schools with different models, and chances are they will all tell you they are using some form of personalized learning.

But what does personalized learningmean, and how do schools follow in others' footsteps in order to get in the game?

When it comes to sports, players turn to the playbook. Teams start by following a set of strategies that are tried and true, tested over decades of playing the game. (Take the play-action pass, or the pick-and-roll, for example!) But the greats—the players, coaches and innovators who are immortalized—achieve their goals by adding their own flair and philosophies to the game. They can assess and adapt to any situation.

So when it comes to personalized learning, where’s the playbook with those reliable, go-to plays to put into action?

For a field that’s so young and has yet to be solidly defined, these personalized learning plays are being invented as we go. And how they are tweaked and implemented by brave educators across the country is incredibly exciting. Schools are taking different definitions or frameworks for personalized learning that others have created and making them their own.

To define personalized learning for themselves and bring that vision to life, educators turn to a number of resources: frameworks and blueprints for personalized learning, networks of innovative schools and educators, and ultimately their own communities to co-create a vision for what it will all look like. To honor the players and the coaches of this personalized learning game, we’ve captured stories of:

We’ve also borrowed and shared a few of the tricks and tools being used to build personalized learning in schools and classrooms (from frameworks to white papers to professional development activities), so that you can start assembling your own playbook, whether for a few kids in a classroom or a 50,000-student district.

Take these plays, practice them, share them and inspire more players to play along. Let the personalized learning games begin!

Twelve Resources to Get You Started

Interested in creating a personalized learning playbook? Here's our list of starter resources. And if you've got materials that you think others should use, please include it in the comments section below!

Resource Description Type of Resource Who's the Ideal User? Read More About it!
A Working Definition of Personalized Learning (NewSchool Venture Fund) List of four common
attributes shared by the emerging community of
schools designed for personalized learning
Infographic/
Framework
Teachers, District or School Administrators Why use it?
Blended Learning Worksheets (Christensen Institute)
Worksheets for admins/schools to practice going soup-to-nuts personalized
Activity Teachers, District or School Administrators Why use it?
Redbird Personalized Learning Framework (Redbird Learning)
5-year description of steps for going blended
Framework District or School Administrators
Who's using it?
Blueprint for Personalized Learning in Delaware (Rodel Council)
Stats, systems, and interviews with educators to support going blended
Framework Teachers, School Administrators Why use it? Who's using it?
Mean What You Say: Defining and Integrating Personalized, Blended and Competency Education (iNACOL)
Descriptions of the differences between three frequently-interchanged terms
White Paper Anyone Why use it?
Pearson's 1:1 Framework (Pearson)
Research-based approach designed to help schools go 1:1
Framework Teachers, School Administrators
Why use it?
A Fundamental Shift in Teaching And Learning to Meet the Blueprint 2.0 Theory of Action (Baltimore County Public Schools)
School and districtwide recommendations for going personalized from Lighthouse Schools in BCPS
Framework Teachers, District or School Administrators Who's using it?
Human Capital Management: Developing a Strategy for Success in a Personalized Environment (Matchbook Learning) Strategies for cultivating blended learning leaders White Paper
School Administrators Why use it? Who's using it?
The Edtech Challenge (The Edtech Challenge) Self-paced, scaffolded technology integration course for educators; major focus on personalization
Course Anyone
A Framework for Cultivating High-Quality Blended Learning at the State Level (The Learning Accelerator) Research-based approach for state/local education groups Framework State Officials Why use it?
Redesigning Districts to Support Blended Learning (The Highlander Institute)
Analysis of triumphs and challenges of 3-year adoption of personalized learning in the classroom across Rhode Island White Paper Anyone Who's using it?
Project-Based Learning School Rubric (Buck Institute for Education) Based on BIE's "8 Essential Elements of PBL;" rubric describes what teachers and leaders do in order to support PBL implementation Rubric Anyone Who's using it?
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