Personalized Instruction: The Key to Student Achievement

Personalization of learning and instruction is the most critical issue facing contemporary education_not state testing or vouchers or even aging schools. Personalization is an attempt on the part of a school to take into account individual student characteristics and needs and flexible instructional practices in organizing the learning environment. This book presents the conceptual rationale for personalizing instruction, provides twenty working strategies to assist schools in redesigning themselves for personalization, and cites specific examples of personalization in the subject disciplines and in selected schools. This second edition expands the discussion on personalization, updates the sections on instructional strategies, assessment, and grade reporting, and cites new developments in the disciplines and in the schools.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 The School Learning Environment Chapter 2 Basic Elements of Personalized Instruction: Culture Chapter 3 Basic Elements of Personalized Instruction: Context Chapter 4 Strategies and Tactics for Personalizing Instruction Chapter 5 Authentic Assessment and Progress Reporting Chapter 6 Personalizing the Disciplines Chapter 7 The Structure and Organization of Personalization

About the Author :
James W. Keefe, former director of research for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, is an educational consultant and writer, and president of the Learning Environments Consortium International (LEC), a non-profit forum of professors and practitioners committed to systemic school design and the personalization of learning and instruction. He was a high school assistant principal and principal in Downey, California and taught at the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University, both in Los Angeles. John M. Jenkins is vice president of the Learning Environments Consortium International (LEC). He was a high school principal for more than four decades and served as the director of the P.K. Yonge Development Research School on the campus of the University of Florida where he also taught graduate courses in school leadership.

Review :
Personalized education can solve most of the instructional issues occurring in North American schools. Many of the programs suggested in Personalized Instruction: Key to Student Achievement have been operating successfully in school environments for over thirty years. All students could be successful if educators would commit themselves and their schools to personalized education as outlined in this book. Nobody knows the relationship between instructional personalization and achievement better than Jim Keefe and Jack Jenkins. They not only talk the talk but have walked the walk. This is about as sound advice as one can get these days. When the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows SD#42, B.C., Canada, designed the self-paced/continuous progress program and facility for the Thomas Haney Secondary School, the administrative team incorporated in their planning the personalized instruction and student support components advocated by James Keefe and John Jenkins. The practical and experienced knowledge provided by these educators prepared us to accomplish our goals and especially to overcome obstacles that we might have overlooked. Many components of this personalized instructional approach (student learning style assessment, advisement, goal setting, flexible scheduling, formative assessment, variable instruction, etc.) have shown great potential to increase achievement in the present NCLB environment. If we are truly interested in 'No Child Left Behind,' we need to revisit the personalized model. Eminently realistic and practical. There's no substitute for common sense.