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| MAPS may help make “personalized learning” a reality |
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If all students began high school with roadmaps identifying not just their starting place, but possible destinations, they might be better able to plan their journeys. The landmarks they’d see might take on connectedness and meaning that aren’t always evident to freshmen. That’s the thinking behind a pilot program to personalize learning — My Action Plan for Success, or MAPS — that The Consortium for Public Education hopes to launch next year.
Through focus groups and discussions with educators, The Consortium began planning the pilot over the summer with the aim of developing a “gold standard” for individual learning plans and determining what technology schools need to support them. Based on research and discussions so far, MAPS would help schools and their students connect and monitor progress in four key “domains” of learning: Effort and academic achievement; school and community activities; 21st Century skills; and a personal vision for the future.
“We view MAPS and the four domains as a reflection of the whole child,” said The Consortium’s Director of Initiatives, Mary Kay Babyak. “We think this will help students take major roles in defining and planning their individual school experiences and creating their own, unique pathways to success.”
Although a full-scale pilot, involving several schools, isn’t anticipated until 2010-2011, The Consortium will work this year with Greensburg-Salem High School to test concepts.
Key areas of interest that emerged among a June focus group will be further explored at another meeting of educators on October 19. The topics include the research and philosophies behind MAPS; the need for ownership, effort and reflection on the part of students; the need for buy-in among staff and parents; supporting the roles of staff advisors in guiding students to create and continually revisit their plans; professional development needs; the need for administrative and board commitment; technology needs; and action plans for districts that want to introduce MAPS.
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Individual learning plans have been encouraged as an ingredient for education reform for more than a decade and have been put to scattered use across the country. Based on those efforts, they’ve surfaced in nearly half of all state education agendas, said Babyak. She noted that 24 states and the District of Columbia have adopted policies to develop individual learning plans for students as early as sixth grade.
The individual plans are programs of study designed to help each student create and stay on an educational path that takes account of his or her talents, preferences and aspirations. Because students take a prime role in developing them and revisit their plans periodically with adult advisors, they get regular feedback and a sense of ownership that they most likely wouldn’t get otherwise. The plans also build accountability among educators to address the individual needs of students, regularly assess their performance on an individual basis and provide support targeted at specific learning or social/emotional issues.
Public schools historically have offered few strategies for addressing individual student’s needs and some don’t consider a student’s post-secondary plans until the junior year of high school.
“Without a more personalized approach to education, there’s so much that never makes it onto the radar in evaluating students’ performance, much less understanding their personal interests and aspirations,” Babyak said. “We think MAPS can give students, their parents and teachers a much richer picture.”
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