The concept of personalization in learning appeals to many K-12 teachers and students weary of regimented, one-size-fits-all instruction. The in-vogue term personalization is used to refer to many different learning strategies and structures--from personal learning plans to greater student voice. Differentiation expert Carol Ann Tomlinson is…

To learn more about how parents understand the whole child approach to education, ASCD commissioned KRC Research to conduct a study that included parent focus groups in Richmond, Virginia; and Columbus, Ohio, as well as a survey of 800 parents across the United States to identify their perceptions of what a whole child education is, how it is…

A personalized education, according to Ted Sizer, means that students are known by adult professionals in the school. Administrators at a California high school with 2,000 students and very large classes initiated an adopt-a-kid program by matching adult volunteers on campus with low-achieving students. This program, along with a successful block…

The entire staff of one New York elementary school was trained in Developmental Activities Project to understand how students develop logical thinking, how to assess each student's developmental level, and how to create an appropriate learning environment. DAP is based on Piaget's 46 concrete mental structures, including classification, relations,…

When Richmond County, Georgia, teachers formed study groups to become proficient in new teaching strategies, their students' achievement and behavior improved markedly. The teachers adopted an organic approach to school renewal, restructuring the workplace and using training to bring research-based teaching models into teachers' regular workday.…

Discusses the use of coaching to establish a communal learning effort among teachers and reinforce skills introduced through inservice. Issues examined include the length of coaching, who should coach, training coaches, coaching's effects, the relationships of evaluation and supervision to coaching, the principal's role, and implementation. (MCG)

Searching for ways to help students feel more connected to one another and to the school community as a whole, a junior high school implemented the social house approach. Social houses divide students into multiple social units, rather than into separate academic entities. Each unit has its own identity and theme.The different groups mix during…