• Access on-demand online learning modules and curated resources to learn at your own pace
• Develop a foundational knowledge of personalized, competency-based learning and how to shift traditional teaching and learning practices
• Gain insight into preparing to launch your individual or team’s journey to personalized, competency-based learning
• Earn continuing education credit
• Great fit for schools to provide development and learning for interested teachers

ACCESS THE FREE COURSE THROUGH ASU PREP DIGITAL TRAINING

• Develop the knowledge and skills to shift traditional teaching and learning practices, including:
  • Immediately applicable strategies to personalize learning at classroom and school levels
  • Creating the conditions and building the capacity for learner agency
  • Assessment strategies
  • Leading in a personalized learning environment
  • Change management
  • Identifying and addressing systemic barriers to learning
• Identify and apply strategies to energize your vision and build community-wide commitment
• Identify strengths and opportunities for growth and alignment across conditions necessary for systemic change

Anticipated Commitments

• Participating in initial planning meetings and a kick-off convening
• Developing a strategy for implementing personalized learning at school
• Up to three virtual or in-person cohort convenings per year
• Ongoing check-ins and support from personalized learning coaches
• Ongoing optional peer-to-peer learning opportunities and role-based connections

How It Works

• Principals apply for their school to participate and assemble a design team of 4-5 staff to embark on and lead the school’s personalized learning journey.
• Each applicant will be contacted directly to discuss participation and logistics, including cohort timetables and associated costs.
• The school design team will be supported with coaching and guidance from APLN throughout the entire process and beyond.

APPLY TO JOIN

JOIN AN UPCOMING INFORMATIONAL SESSION

• Develop a comprehensive plan for system-wide implementation of personalized, competency-based learning
• Expand the knowledge and skills needed for system-wide transformation, including:
  • Change leadership and strategic planning
  • Community buy-in and meaningful support
  • Scaling school-level implementation
  • Competency and learning continuum development
  • Systemic assessment practices
  • Continuous quality improvement

Anticipated Commitments

• Participating in initial planning meetings and a kick-off convening
• Ongoing district-specific coaching and three cohort convenings per year
• Embedded evaluation of the impact
• Ongoing optional peer-to-peer learning opportunities and role-based connections

How It Works

Public school districts and charter school networks engage in deep and ongoing professional learning and coaching that support them in establishing learner-centered environments and practices and implementing systems shifts to support and sustain competency-based, personalized learning. If you are interested in joining a future Transform cohort, contact us.

• Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning (2015); RAND Corporation
  • Key Finding: Students in schools using personalized learning practices are making more significant student achievement gains in math and reading over the course of two school years, and the
• Informing Progress: Insights on Personalized Learning Implementation and Effects (2017); RAND Corporation
  • Key finding: Students participating in personalized learning schools had modest gains in reading and math scores over peers in other schools and researchers found that personalized learning is "benefiting students of all ability levels"
• Learning with others: A study exploring the relationship between collaboration, personalization, and equity (2018); American Institutes for Research, via Student Centered Learning Research Collaborative
  • Key finding: All students reported high-quality collaboration and this was strongly associated with positive classroom experiences and mind-set/dispositional outcomes such as motivation, engagement, and self-efficacy
• Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions (2016); American Institutes for Research
  • Key finding: Students who reported having a clear sense of learning targets showed more positive changes in some learning capacities (skills, behaviors, and dispositions that enhance student capacity to learn in school) over time than students who did not report having clear learning targets in their courses

What is personalized learning?

Personalized, competency-based learning is a mindset and approach to learning and instruction that prioritizes tailoring the learning experience to the needs of every student and empowers them as true partners in the process. As an alternative to the “one-size-fits-all” approach to education, personalized learning is student-centered learning at its best. It embeds equity within the culture, structure, and practices of schools.

Personalized learning comprises research-based practices designed to meet individual students where they are, ensure mastery of academic content and social and emotional skills, and foster student ownership in their learning. Common principles of personalized learning include learner agency, flexible learning environments, individual mastery, and personal learning paths.

From a systems perspective, personalized learning has the potential to close achievement and opportunity gaps, increase educational attainment, and prepare a highly-skilled workforce ready to innovate for our future.

WATCH: What Does Personalized Learning Really Mean?
Our friends at Wisconsin DPI provide a detailed look at competency-based personalized learning in this 5-minute video.

DOWNLOAD: An Introduction to Personalized Learning
From our national APLN partner Knowledgeworks

WATCH: What Personalized Learning Can Look Like in Arizona Schools
Our APLN partners at Poston Junior High in Mesa share their story of success with implementing personalized learning

What are the benefits of personalized learning?

Based on recent research completed by KnowledgeWorks on the skills individuals will need for careers in 2040 and beyond, core social-emotional skills like emotional regulation, empathy and self-knowledge will be critical to help students succeed in a future that looks very different from today. Personalized learning addresses these needs.

Personalized Learning Can

• Improve Academic Achievement – A growing evidence base and ongoing research show personalized learning improves academic outcomes and closes achievement gaps.
• Address Unfinished Learning – A flexible and relationship-based approach to personalized learning can help educators address disruptions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic while implementing equitable, resilient systems that can ensure every student’s future success.
• Advance Social-Emotional Learning – Research has also shown personalized learning to benefit student-educator relationships and build social-emotional skills, leading to reduced absenteeism, higher attendance and graduation rates, and higher morale among the school community.
• Increase Teacher Retention – Personalized learning techniques provide more teacher/educator agency and autonomy, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention.
• Innovate Education – Dedicated educators are pioneering a vital paradigm shift that breaks away from outdated systems to improve the education experience and academic and life outcomes for generations to come.

How does personalized learning differ from traditional education and differentiation?

Traditional education typically uses a one-size-fits-all approach where educators teach to the middle, and decisions are primarily teacher-centered. In a differentiated approach, the educator has recognized that learning needs to be tailored to meet the needs of different students; however, the teacher is still the one making all of the decisions in the learning process. Personalized, competency-based learning is a student-centered approach where students are true partners in the learning process.

How does the APLN support personalized learning through professional development?

APLN is committed to supporting schools, districts, and educators across the state who are working towards implementing personalized, competency-based learning practices. Whether you are exploring, implementing, or scaling student-centered practices, we have various professional learning opportunities to meet your unique needs. Explore our offerings and select the best support to meet you where you are on your learning journey.