Personalized Learning: Helping Teachers Spark a Love of Learning in Every Student

Thanks to personalized learning, attendance and graduation rates are on the rise in Lindsay, California, where students — primarily from low-income families — have taken ownership of their learning and their futures. In this summary, Senior Program Officer Helayne Brinauer Jones explains what other schools can learn about the promise of quality personalized learning from Lindsay Unified School District.

“Why are we learning this?” This is a perennial question teachers hear from students, who sometimes struggle to see the big picture: how their schoolwork is preparing them for life after graduation.

Over the past two years, educators at Windy Hill Middle School in Clermont, Florida have been transforming their teaching, tailoring instruction to students’ individual needs and interests. Students have been using new tools to learn content at their own pace and taking ownership of their learning in the process.