Personalized Learning: Student-Designed Pathways to High School Graduation

Your guide to making a whole-school move toward personalized learning Give students the freedom to map their own educational pathways and help them meet graduation standards! This book illustrates how to support students to take advantage of resources from the community, colleges, virtual platforms, and creative outlets to design their own education. Readers will: Hear from educators who have successfully steered schools toward personalized learning Get specific tips to help your entire staff implement key processes and measure outcomes Find answers to the big questions that threaten success Use models of prompts and rubrics to get your pilot program started Personalized Learning gives you solid, flexible tools to enhance your school’s depth and generate successful outcomes. "With a sharp eye for detail, Clarke reminds us that students can and must make their own sense of the world, but to do so, they need smart and flexible frameworks, the company of attentive adults, and lots of back and forth about the important big ideas." —Larry Myatt, Founder and President The Education Resources Consortium

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Joseph DiMartino Preface Why This Book? Who Might Read This Book? What′s in the Book? About the Author Acknowledgments Introduction: All Learning Is Personal Meeting Standards/Avoiding Standardization Celebrating Diversity Personalized Learning Designing Personal Pathways to Graduation An Enriched Context for Learning 1. Engagement in Learning Overview Organizing Curriculum Around Personal Competencies Real Questions/Real Meaning Building on Strengths Artificial Challenges Meaningful Challenges Designing Pathways by Increasing Challenge Personalization and Student Achievement Accepting Ambiguity Nagging Questions About Personal Engagement 2. Patterns of Growth Overview Personalized Learning at Mount Abraham Patterns of Growth in Personalized Learning Learning Through Relationships Nagging Questions About Student Growth 3. Shaping the Process of Inquiry Overview Keeping the Target Steady Seven Phases of Project Development in a Semester The Process Is the Learning Nagging Questions About Structure and Freedom 4. Scaffolding Personal Learning Overview Focusing on Competency "The Space": A Website Organizing Learning Designing Processes and Products Learning to Learn Independently Learning Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: An Illustration Problem Solving With Hands Using the Tools in Advising Leaving the Scaffold Behind Nagging Questions About Structure 5. Integrating School and Community Overview Why Leave Campus? Riding With the Wizard Connecting With a Community Mentor Fitting in at Fifteen: Austin and Gabe at the Fish Hatchery Making Room for Mentoring Moving From Simple to Complex Tasks The Cost in Time and Energy Making Global Connections The Action Is Not the Learning Nagging Questions About Community Engagement 6. Assessing Readiness for College and Work Overview What Tests Don′t Tell Documenting Applicable Competency Measuring What Matters Face Validity Focusing Questions for Assessing Evidence of Learning Tracking the Accumulation of Evidence Student-Led Conferences Exhibitions: Taking It Public Celebrating "Best-Work" Portfolios Reporting Achievement Nagging Questions About Assessment 7. Transforming High School Learning Overview School Transformation Through Mutual Learning Growth Through Interaction Removing Barriers: Armando Vilaseca, Vermont Secretary of Education Shaping a Shared Vision: Evelyn Howard, District Superintendent of the Addison Northeast K-12 School District Linking Personalization to Existing Models: Nancy Cornell, Associate Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Continuous Adaptation Through Engaged Leadership Organizing Teams and Structures: Leon Wheeler, Mount Abraham Coprincipal Unifying Personalized Learning: Caroline Camara and Maureen Deppman, Cochairs of Personalized Learning Department Expanding Roles for Teachers: Caroline Camara, Department Cochair Advising While Redesigning: Russell Comstock, Academic Advisor Mutual Renewal Nagging Questions About High School Transformation Conclusion: From Knowledge to Power Sort and Select or Empower to Grow? Bibliography Index

Review :
"I continue to appreciate John Clarke’s dedication to putting students and common sense before educational politics, fads and test scores. With a sharp eye for detail, John reminds us that students can and must make their own sense of the world, but to do so, they need smart and flexible frameworks, the company of attentive adults, and lots of back and forth about the important big ideas. In a time when data dashboards and growth indexes clutter the landscape and steer us away from personalized learning, Clarke’s voice provides tones of Dewey in a contemporary motif."