Journal & Topics Media Group

‘Personalized Learning’

Vision Retreat Focuses On New Ways Of Educating Dist. 62 Students

Personalized learning came out as the major focus of a March 20 “Vision Retreat” held as part of the ongoing effort to create a new strategic plan for Des Plaines Elementary School Dist. 62.

Victorene King, Dist. 62 director of strategic initiatives and accountability, said “personalized learning” applies to all areas of instruction and is based on one point: “providing students what they need when they need it.”

Other areas of interest discussed during the retreat were early learning and school safety.

The purpose of the day-long retreat was to create a vision for how the district could or should change in the next five to 10 years. King said the focus was more on seeing what was possible than finding solutions to specific problems.

Overall, 38 of the 46-member strategic plan team, including community members, high school students, district staff and city representatives, attended the retreat. Each of six table groups of members researched and presented on one of six different educational programs at schools around the world. These included: Stonefields School in New Zealand, Marzano High Reliability Schools, the XQ Super School Project, Michael Fullan’s network of schools, Redefining Ready and Teach To One Math. Different teaching methods were highlighted in each program.

Examples of new approaches included embracing being “stuck”, a method practiced at Stonefields; the Marzano group’s prioritizing of collaborative learning, the XQ goal to provide free, high-quality education to all high school students; Fullan’s emphasis on “deep learning” to help each student identify their learning style and strengths; research by Redefining Ready, used by Township High School Dist. 214 aimed to make sure high school students are college and career ready, as well as the innovate groupings utilized by Teach To One in order to facilitate math skills.

Through conversations about each method, personalized learning remained a key focus, King told the Journal.

“We’re moving the conversation from the student as a grade to the student as a learner,” she explained. “We want to give students opportunities to take ownership of their learning.”

In Maine Township High School Dist. 207, personalized learning initiatives have been used in a decision to remove requirements for signing up for Advanced Placement courses. According to King, results from this change have been very positive.

Prior to the retreat, the strategic plan team met for an orientation session and one other day-long retreat. A survey was also sent out to the community to assemble data about the district. For the first part of the March 20 retreat, members of the team analyzed the 450 survey responses, King said.

The team will meet for one more eight-hour retreat on April 23 to focus on determining how to achieve the vision set out last month, as well as a May 14 meeting before a strategic plan is presented to the board of education May 21.

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