District Conditions for Scale: A Practical Guide to Scaling Personalized Learning© addresses an important step in implementing personalized education: to identify the conditions for scale that exist at a district level. In other words, what are the conditions that a K-12 school district should put in place to support the scaling of personalized learning? Read our guide for details on the 10 district conditions for scale.
Personalized learning—broadly speaking—is stuck in the school pilot phase. There are countless examples of personalized learning environments, models, and schools from coast to coast. We have all seen that great school or model and the world of possibilities it offers for the students that attend the school. These examples often result in more questions than answers.
- How are the other students in that district being educated?
- How do we reach a level of scale for personalized learning?
- How do we move from the isolated examples to whole systems designed around providing personalized learning options for all students?
- How do we build a school system, a learning system, with personalized learning at the core?
Why focus on scaling personalized learning at the district level? First, in the United States, the district level is the level of implementation. The district level is closest to the schools and thus the students as well as to the educators. Moreover, the district level has the most control over system vision, curriculum and instruction, as well as formative assessment and student supports.
Secondly, by solving for scale at the district level we gain a clearer vision for what supportive, enabling and catalytic policy can look like at both the state and federal level. This begins to solve for a better aligned, more supportive education system that is oriented towards putting the student at the center of the system through a vision and focus on personalized learning. To move to truly focusing on personalized teaching and learning, it demands a coordinating move from pilot phase to true scale.
