Classroom Tech

Personalized Learning in a Kit

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/08/19

An education consulting company has released a "boxed" version of a segment of its expertise. The Personalized Learning Toolkit from Education Elements provides a system by which schools and districts can pursue a do-it-yourself approach for planning, designing and launching a personalized learning initiative.

Among the toolkit's components are:

• Meeting and workshop agendas, slides, resources and an implementation plan to guide the personalized learning initiative — all of which can be customized;

• Introductory materials for teacher and leadership team workshops to help participants understand the basics of personalized learning and how and why it helps students;

• A "school reflection journal" to help school leaders assess their systems' readiness for the instructional shift and to monitor progress; and

• Access to a resource library with best practice examples from schools and districts the company has worked with around the country.

The program also includes consulting hours and a customized roadmap. The price is $7,500.

Arlington Public Schools, one of several districts that piloted the program, found that the kit would offer significant help in leading district-wide change. "The resources in the [toolkit] have been super valuable," said Heather Hurley, supervisor of personalized learning at the Virginia district. "Whereas I used to spend time researching activities and planning agendas for my schools, I am now able to leverage the resources directly from the kit. The kit also has a project management tool that keeps me very organized. It has streamlined our transformation process and I use it to track all of our monthly activities. It's such a time saver and has helped me plan for next year."

Education Elements said it has worked with 750 schools and 140 districts on multiple transformation efforts, including competency-based education, school leadership development, adoption of open education resources and other innovations.