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Personalized learning strategies were most effectively implemented and sustained in Rural LIFE schools when teachers and leaders engaged in a systemic professional learning process, including deep dives into what personalized learning looks like and sounds like in various contexts, what change management practices support and/or hinder the development of these practices, and what collaborative structures most effectively serve as levers for ongoing learning and sustaining change.
Hancock County Middle School ELA teacher Jodie Bakely discusses the advantages of being a part of a collaborative professional learning network.
A collaborative learning network of schools and districts can amplify the pace of implementation in rural areas.
It is common in rural schools for building leaders and teachers to work in isolation, having limited access to learn alongside role-alike colleagues. Structured sharing time during professional learning sessions paired with instructional coaches setting up school to school visits for observation and strategy sharing, improved the pace of implementation across the region. Participants reported that engagement with colleagues from other schools and districts was a major factor in their learning and changes in practice with many reporting ongoing engagement beyond traditional "borders" outside of the structure of the formal learning community/grant.
Professional learning communities (PLCs) at the school level are an essential lever for change.
Facilitated time working in small groups for instructional planning, data analysis, and the review of student work within the school day, supported the ongoing learning of lead teachers while also providing a model of new knowledge and skills in practice to educators who were not lead participants in the RL professional learning sessions. Schools that modified their schedules to provide time for PLCs that did not previously exist or modified the use of time during PLCs to focus on the integration of new practices saw successful shifts in classroom practice.
Effective professional learning about personalized learning must be designed with relevancy and flexibility in mind.
Professional learning opportunities must be relevant to the specific needs of participants, providing both a differentiated structure to develop a foundational understanding of evidence-based practices and support for transfer to implementation in practice guided by their role. In addition to this structure, there must also be flexibility to allow school-based teams and individuals to self-select pathways and/or sessions and to personalize their experience to best meet their learning needs.
Candace Herman, Rural LIFE coach for Greene County Schools, explains why professional learning for teachers and school leaders must be personalized.
