What is Personalized Learning?

Personalized learning is an approach that fosters increased student engagement, ownership and motivation for their own learning; the ability for students to move at different paces; instruction based on students’ needs; and multiple ways for students to show mastery, according to “Teacher as Architect, Instructional Design and Delivery for the Modern Teacher.”

Another important aspect of personalized learning in Fraser is the opportunity for remediation.

“Students need to have a solid educational foundation in order to build upon and succeed in the future. In Fraser, students have opportunities to relearn and remediate,” said Carrie Wozniak, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

Each student learns at a different pace, and by personalizing learning we are meeting students where they are in their learning progression.

What is Competency-Based Learning?

In Fraser, CBL refers to systems of instruction, assessment, grading, and academic reporting that are based on students demonstrating that they have learned the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn as they progress through their education.

Learning objectives or ‘I can’ statements, which are aligned to standards, support each competency.

How has Fraser implemented CBL?

In order to uniformly implement CBL throughout the District, we started at the very core of our instructional practices.

Teachers and district staff created three-dimensional learning for students by combining content, skill and conceptual competencies. Competencies include explicit, measurable and transferable learning objectives that empower students.

Our learning management systems, itslearning at the elementary level and BlackBoard at the secondary level, allow students to access their learning at any time and in any place. This access provides transparent understanding to both students and parents of the learning that will be happening.

In a CBL model, students must show proficiency in the competencies. Teachers set clear, achievable goals and learning objectives, and students have a clear path on how to meet the competency as well as choice in showing their mastery. Teachers are facilitators of learning, and students work both collaboratively and independently to achieve their goals.

Our teachers work together throughout the year to ensure consistency in lesson design and implementation across the district. The district also works with personalized learning and CBL experts. As we move forward in the school year, we will share stories of the impact of personalized learning from schools, grades and even individual students.