What’s Next? Personalizing Student Learning for Engagement, Equity and Excellence With the MAssachusetts Personalized Learning Edtech Consortium

Abstract

This capstone outlines the work I completed during a 10-month residency experience, serving as a Deputy Academic Officer at the LearnLaunch Institute, an education technology organization, based in Boston, Massachusetts. LearnLaunch has established itself as a hub for education innovators in New England, particularly those who see the potential for digital technologies to improve K-12 educational outcomes. In this capstone, I combine research of, and reflection on, my strategic project, which entailed: 1) developing a strategy for scaling and sustaining personalized learning and 2) crafting an approach to bridge personalized learning and equity of opportunity and achievement. This work was completed to support LearnLaunch’s non-profit area, the MAPLE (MAssachusetts Personalized Learning EdTech) Consortium. The Review of Knowledge for Action (RKA) component will serve as a citation analysis and systematic review for the components of my strategic project. In the RKA, I have documented my survey of relevant literature across methods to scale and sustain personalized (student-centered) learning and examine the correlation between personalized learning and equity of opportunity and achievement. Based on research, interviews with practitioners, application of a change management framework and professional experiences, I have suggested that in order to best deliver on its mission, MAPLE may need to consider and utilize a multi-faceted set of options. Specifically, these options include: 1) better supporting districts and schools with a complex definition of personalized learning, 2) developing metrics that help support the impacts of personalized learning and 3) supporting campus leaders in the creation of culturally responsive schools and classrooms. In conclusion, this capstone seeks to determine a way for entities like MAPLE to scale and sustain efforts relating to personalized learning, and help make equity of opportunity and achievement actionable. Through the results of this strategic project, I have demonstrated how education technology and non-profit organizations can better deliver on their supports to K-12 districts and schools in the U.S.