Pedal to the Metal: Inconsistencies in Student Advancement in Personalized Learning Environments

May 2021

Over the past 10 years, educators and policymakers have expressed a growing interest in the use of personalized learning (PL) strategies to foster deeper learning amongst K-12 students. Personalized learning represents a shift from conventional standards-based instruction to an approach that focuses on individual student learning and understands that progression varies based on students’ prior experiences, academic goals, and learning preferences. Components of personalized learning include incorporating more student choice, multiple pathways to demonstrate mastery of learning standards, and students taking on more responsibility for their learning. Although the structure and elements of this approach vary broadly across districts attempting to implement it, opportunities for individualized pacing remain a core component in most personalized learning models.

Even before the pandemic, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) was working with seven pilot districts from across the state to develop deeper learning strategies that might transform classroom instruction and learning through the adoption of personalized learning. Drawing on surveys as well as participant interview data, this paper presents evidence about the ways in which these seven districts implemented personalized learning in Michigan, and in particular individualized pacing as it is core to all models of personalized learning. We ask:

1. Are districts providing opportunities for student individualized pacing, both while they are working towards mastery and once they have achieved it?
2. What factors facilitate or hinder students’ opportunities for individualized pacing?

This working paper also reviews the relevant literature, focusing on the challenges associated with implementation of personalized learning, and in particular flexible pacing, and how implementation has challenged existing, traditional teacher roles. We then discuss our data and the methods we use to answer our research questions. From there, we present both survey and qualitative data to support our findings and provide a discussion and implications for policy and practice.