Self paced personalized learning for an entire school district is becoming a reality classroom by classroom.
Most of the classrooms in each of the three buildings in the Amboy school district in Amboy Illinois have piloted self paced learning, at the very least. Some have practiced it for years.
Students are given lesson plans that have a longer scope than before, and entrusted with progress.
An example of how it works is shown by junior high English teacher Stacey Dinges, who builds plans 9 weeks ahead.
“I’m excited to come to school on Mondays,” Dinges said. “This is the first time I’ve come to school knowing I’ve got 9 weeks of clear-cut standards we need to meet. It’s also the first time I’ll be faster than my fastest student.”
The current goal is to have the school board approve the student ability to complete a curriculum for a grade level and advance to the next grade level. This is expected to occur in fall, 2018. Superintendent Jeff Thake is pleased with that status of things today.
“You need to empower teachers to empower their students,” Thake said. “We’ve accelerated at a rate I couldn’t have imagined, and we’ve still just begun. What a difference a year makes.”