Common Ideas to Improve Education Outcomes

Personalized Education

Personalized learning has multiple interpretations The first interpretation is that of a student self-directing their own education. One student may want to study more computer science, another more about ancient history. Schools of all levels respond to the demand for self-directed learning with electives. Students may choose from a limited set of approved courses which allow students to pursue their interests. In practice, electives are first to experience budget cuts, and most graduation requirements lock out true diversification of knowledge.

The second way we can interpret personalized learning is a learning experience that is specifically tailored to the unique needs of the students. In this case, an Individualized Education PPlan (IEP) may be developed for just that student. Obviously the administration of IEPs adds a significant layer of bureaucracy onto any educational organization. Managing all those individual plans is far more complex than just assigning all students "Freshmen English."

Another interpretation of personalized learning is to teach specifically to a student's learning gaps. Learning gaps are assessed with various tests, identified, and remedied. It is clearly important to address learning gaps when trying to progress as student to the next level.

And yet another interpretation of personalized learning is the learning styles idea. The idea is that students learn very differently from one another, some are audio learners, some visual learners, some hands-on, and so on. In this interpretation of personalized learning, the curricula must be adapted in style to how each student learns. In practice, how exactly are teachers supposed to switch between learning styles in the classroom? Its just not really very feasible to achieve. There is also the counter-argument that students who are not proficient at one style of learning, should in fact get better at this learning method. No one really believes students can not grow and develop, so this idea has the unintended consequence of locking students in to a dominant method of learning, without developing other skills, it seems counter-productive.

Master-Based Education

Mastery-based education is an approach where students have to demonstrate a high level of proficiency in each topical area. This idea is a reaction to students being moved from one grade level to the next, approaching more difficult information, without having mastered the fundamentals.

Mastery-based education is the most obvious answer to poor education outcomes, since it would be very unlikely that a student how failed Algebra 1 is ready for Algebra 2.

Project Based Learning

In project-based learning methodologies, student work together in groups on a project. The idea is that students will integrate ideas and concepts and learn valuable social skills when working in a group.

Traditionally speaking, the original project-based learning method was the lab report. Students worked in groups to do the lab, but they each did their own lab report. The lab report integrated the ideas and concepts in the lessons. Lab reports are still great ways to practice collaboration and integration ideas and concepts.

The lab report aside, project-based learning is mostly wasted time. In practice, one student will pull the rest along, and contribution is rarely evenly distributed.

Shorted to the abbreviation of SEL, this idea is probably the newest of the pack. Great teachers are supposed to weave SEL into their classrooms. In addition to teaching math and science, teachers who implement SEL are supposed to teach students how to manage their own feelings and emotions in increase a student's emotional intelligence. While there could be nothing wrong teachers helping students deal with their anxiety, is a teacher equipped for these goals? In a classroom of 30 kids, how much SEL is really going to take place?

The Best and Worst of These Ideas

It would be wonderful for teachers to establish a connection of mentorship with students in an environment of lower anxiety, which would no doubt help students concentrate on their lessons. However, asking a professional teacher to now become a therapist sounds like a bad idea. While most project-based learning assignments are a waste of time, lab reports are terrific at integrating concepts. Of course, it is ridiculous to keep moving students along if they failed lower level courses, so mastery-based learning is an important component of success. However, we can't just keep failing students in grade levels because the social pressure is to destructive. Regarding personalization, it is very important to address individual learning gaps, as every student has a unique set of knowledge they bring with them to each course. However, trying to adapt to a student's strengths in learning styles seems counter productive when the goal is to make the student stronger in all areas.