According to Domenech et al. (2016), personalization has become the hallmark of exemplary schools. One of the essentials in a personalized curriculum is flexibility. Innovations Early College High School in Salt Lake City, Utah provides a perfect example of how flexibility is beneficial to learning. Student can begin their day as early as 7:00 a.m. and stay as late as 5:00 p.m. Each student’s schedule is customized to meet his or her individual needs. Students progress through a proficiency-based process and can finish a course when they demonstrate competency on all required standards. There are no periods and no bells. The principal, Kenneth Grover, created the school after surveying students who were not doing well in their current
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This research traces back to Howard Gardner. Gardner (2011) suggests that humans process information and make judgments in very personalized ways. Meaning is constructed based upon our different experiences and vantage points. Individual learners may learn best through visual, auditory, or tactile interaction. Our personalities also shape how we process new information. Some learners are concrete and sequential in their approach. Others are abstract and associational. The way we display our intelligence also varies greatly. Some are linguistically adept while others possess strong logical-mathematical …show more content…
(2016) concludes by offering suggestions on transforming the entire system rather than one single school. “We contend that a personalized system is increasingly non-bureaucratic. Traditional, industrial models of management and supervision – resting on top-down, hierarchical notions of control and conformity – will be replaced by true learning organizations” (p.104). Domenech et al. (2016), state that superintendents, principals, teachers, and corporate heads leading the personalized curriculum movement appear to be unanimous regarding the following:
• Consensus-driven performance targets achieved through the process of personalization are a necessity. A personalized curriculum is not devoid of the required standards. It offers ways to move away from the one-size-fits-all methods of teaching these standards.
• Decentralization is a non-negotiable. A personalized curriculum requires that the school, not the central office, become the center of the learning and accountability process. Schools must have the freedom to personalize their selections of materials, instructional resources, and texts.
• Leadership must be distributed. The school staff must have freedom to determine what is best of the students they serve. Although this must be done within the budget and accountability standards of the district, central office personnel should strive to give as much freedom as
This research traces back to Howard Gardner. Gardner (2011) suggests that humans process information and make judgments in very personalized ways. Meaning is constructed based upon our different experiences and vantage points. Individual learners may learn best through visual, auditory, or tactile interaction. Our personalities also shape how we process new information. Some learners are concrete and sequential in their approach. Others are abstract and associational. The way we display our intelligence also varies greatly. Some are linguistically adept while others possess strong logical-mathematical …show more content…
(2016) concludes by offering suggestions on transforming the entire system rather than one single school. “We contend that a personalized system is increasingly non-bureaucratic. Traditional, industrial models of management and supervision – resting on top-down, hierarchical notions of control and conformity – will be replaced by true learning organizations” (p.104). Domenech et al. (2016), state that superintendents, principals, teachers, and corporate heads leading the personalized curriculum movement appear to be unanimous regarding the following:
• Consensus-driven performance targets achieved through the process of personalization are a necessity. A personalized curriculum is not devoid of the required standards. It offers ways to move away from the one-size-fits-all methods of teaching these standards.
• Decentralization is a non-negotiable. A personalized curriculum requires that the school, not the central office, become the center of the learning and accountability process. Schools must have the freedom to personalize their selections of materials, instructional resources, and texts.
• Leadership must be distributed. The school staff must have freedom to determine what is best of the students they serve. Although this must be done within the budget and accountability standards of the district, central office personnel should strive to give as much freedom as