CityBridge and Wheatley Education Campus in Washington D.C.

Five years ago, a former high school principal named Brian Greenberg joined forces with an heir to the retail giant Gap, John Fisher, to start a fund to help scale promising charter schools. 

This week the group, called Silicon Schools Fund, released a report reflecting on its efforts so far, which have supported 31 schools, 24 of which were brand new, with a total of $50 million.  The bad news: They admit there isn’t yet enough hard evidence that personalized learning really works. The good news: There are plenty of positive signs, both when measuring students across standardized tests and when looking for signals of engagement. They suggest moving forward with what they call Urgent Patience.

EdSurge’s CEO, Betsy Corcoran, sat down with Greenberg to talk about the report, along with his colleague Caitrin Wright. Here are highlights from their conversation.

EdSurge On Air

Podcast Extra: Personalized Learning’s Unknowns: Silicon Schools’ Five-Year Journey

This week, we speak with Turnaround for Children Founder Dr. Pamela Cantor about the importance of establishing relationships of trust between students and adults, and creating safe environments for all students. Pamela discusses the nature of learning as an essential social activity, and why understanding this and brain development in children is essential for new teachers and as part of ongoing professional development for all teachers. Turnaround for Children is also the organization with which our organization -- Summit Public Schools worked -- alongside Dr. K. Brooke Stafford-Brizard, to adopt the Building Blocks for Learning framework, the research base behind Habits of Success, which are the skills, behaviors and mindsets that are essential for students’ success in college, career, and life.

Growing Healthy Minds: Relationships of Trust and Safe Environments

This week, we speak with Payal Patel, the parent of a Summit Public Schools’ middle school student. Payal tells us about how her own research and reflection on the purpose of education led her to choose Summit, which she describes as being about community building, problem solving, and innovation and creativity, preparing students to be college ready. Payal shares her son’s experiences in building trusting relationships with his mentor and peers, exploring his passions, and about her own path in finding a community of support amongst teachers and parents.

A Conscious Choice: Why One Parent Chose Summit for Her Only Son

This episode is the fourth in our series documenting the Fuse Architect Project, a collaboration between the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the Highlander Institute, and several other Rhode Island-based stakeholders endeavoring to design and pilot systems that promote student centered learning. In this episode, we’re talking with Roberto Gonzalez of the Rhode Island-based nonprofit STEAM Box. Roberto shares with us some inspiring stories that come out of the work that he does with Fuse Architect schools and other programs, and gives us insight on his process that puts students at the center and grants them control of their learning.

Episode 4: Roberto Gonzalez, STEAM Box

We are back! We listened to your feedback and have made some big changes. New venue, new format, new hosts!

Podcast Updates

iTeach Live is the new format with hosts Andy, Stephanee, and Anissa. In episode 2, we talk about Mastory Dispositions and what teachers can do right now to move towards mastery in their own classrooms. We also talk with instructional coach, Ana Hale, about badges and micro-credentialing that teachers can acquire to personalize their own professional development. Finally, introduced a new segment called Plug In Parents where we discuss the difficult topic of parenting connected kids. We address screen time in particular in this episode.

iTeach Live! - Ep2

This episode welcomes Julie Schmitz and Becca Kratky to the podcast to talk about their efforts to personalize learning in their 6th-grade classroom. Julie and Becca lead their combined class as co-teachers, and within that structure, they have implemented personalization by pre-testing students on a subject-to-subject and unit-to-unit basis, focusing in on assessing each learner’s skillset (according to our standards) and then tailoring the learning experience to the individual. The pod shares insights and reflections from their time teaching in a personalized structure, and it shares some of the extension opportunities this format has enabled them to provide their learners.

Co-Teaching and Personalization in the Elementary Classroom

Student-centered, personalized learning could redefine the classroom as we know it. But how are education leaders making it happen? Listen in to find out.

Personalized Learning #1: Student-Centered, Personalized Learning in Policy and Practice

Writing Matters with Dr. Troy Hicks is a Writable podcast. Learn how to grow great writers at www.writable.com

Like and subscribe to Writing Matters on:

∙ Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2HcOcaP 
∙ Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2XA5wwl 
∙ Soundcloud: bit.ly/2SFbrwr
∙ Google Play: https://bit.ly/2SOrUOM
∙ Stitcher: @getwritable

Learn more about Dr. Troy Hicks at hickstro.org and follow him on Twitter @hickstro

In this episode, Troy speaks with Elizabeth Crooks, a former teacher of over 26 years and the recently retired 6-12 curriculum coordinator in English language arts, social studies, and science literacy for the consolidated school district of New Britain, CT. Elizabeth is now a consultant and speaker, and currently working on a book for teachers and administrators about creating curriculums.
Liz has also served as Principal, Vice Principal, and English Department Chair at New Britain High School. Under Liz’s guidance, New Britain saw a 100% increase in students taking advanced placement English Language, and a 30% increase in students scored as proficient on CCSS R1, R2, R4 and W1.

As a teacher writer, a teacher of writing, and a teacher of writing teachers, Liz pulls from her deep experience to share some incredible wisdom. 

Liz speaks to the import of individualizing both instruction and expectations for every single student, as the most important teaching method. She also speaks to the importance of using mentor texts to guide writing instruction for both teachers and students.

Feedback is key for Liz, both in her own work, and in her teaching. She shares why feedback should be given in a timely matter, always before an assignment is finished, but not in an overwhelming amount, and focusing on ideas and questions first, structure and grammer last. She clarified the key differences between revising, editing, and proofreading and why they should not be attempted all together.

Be on the lookout for Liz’s upcoming book, and learn more about her work in the New Britain school system in our case study!

***********************************************************************

Join the Writable community:

∙ Twitter: twitter.com/getwritable 
∙ Facebook: www.facebook.com/getwritable
∙ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/writ...
∙ Instagram: www.instagram.com/getwritable
∙ Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/getwritable
∙ Medium: medium.com/writable

Elizabeth Crooks - Writing Matters with Dr. Troy Hicks

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.msdf.org) is dedicated to improving the lives of children living in urban poverty around the world. With offices in Austin, TX and New Delhi, India, and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell family foundation funds programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood health, and improve the economic stability of families living in poverty. The foundation has committed more than $1 billion (as of January 1, 2014) to global children’s issues and community initiatives to date.

The Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute (MVLRI) exists to expand Michigan’s capacity to support new learning models, engage in active research to inform new policies in online and blended learning, and strengthen the state’s infrastructures for sharing best practices.



EdTech Times is a digital media company sharing untold stories from the intersection of education, technology, innovation, and work. Through our podcast, we’re passing the microphone to those improving the world through education.

A weekly podcast about the future of learning. Join EdSurge journalists as they sit down with educators, innovators and scholars for frank and in-depth conversations.

We have moved to Anchor. Find us at https://anchor.fm/ksuiteach

Writing Matters with Dr. Troy Hicks is a Writable podcast. Learn more www.writable.com

Popular tracks tagged #personalized learning