Then take all of these factors doubled or tripled if the children and grandchildren choose to also dropout. What becomes of a community as each generation fails to earn their high school diploma?  The ripple effect is staggering. As the article says, hopefully online learning will provide a way for students to succeed in a nontraditional setting.

Veteran teachers have watched the pendulum swing, implementing the "fix-it" programs.  Many are tweaked and reintroduced after they've fizzled out.  I think in the flurry to "do something" school districts can take on too many programs.  We do too many and don't keep them long enough to see positive outcomes.

One of my greatest disappointments in today's education - when students are not at the center of our decisions.  Too many factors are taking precedence.  The needs of our students should be brought back to the forefront of our mission.

What more needs to be said then that?  We need to change our teaching approach.

This is an example that far too many parents/guardians experience.  IEP meetings can be overwhelming, heartbreaking, and stressful.  I have great respect for Special Ed teachers that have given extra time and consideration to both students and their family member - ensuring they feel the student is receiving the best care and education as possible and the parent/guardian concerns are being addressed.

I forgot to include: Not every parent/guardian has the ability to voice their opinions or be heard as did the parent in this example.  Being your child's advocate is difficult if there is a language barrier, not feeling confident to express thoughts in a large group of educators, or bad personal experiences with educators.

Opportunities for teachers to shift into personalized learning through layout of classroom space, students taking active role in their learning path, and teachers allowing method of completed work to be student choice.  Implementing concepts can be done at comfort level of the teacher.

Robyn Howton identifies personalized learning isn't just putting a chromebook in the hands of students and saying "Ok, do whatever you want."  PLE takes time, planning, and dedication that students will benefit from choice and ownership in their learning.

Coming from an early childhood/elementary teaching background the idea of continual assessment makes sense.  Checking for understanding during informal situations can lead to students getting help sooner.  It might be just tweaking a thought or more in-depth reteach, but the student will  have the opportunity to "get it" and move on compared to a final grade at the end of the unit and never understanding a portion or whole concept.  That isn't providing our students the best learning environment.

I think this is such a good idea.  It would take an organized, dedicated teacher to be willing to take this step.  How many behavior issues arise because students are bored because they already know the concept?  Give these students the chance to be challenged with deeper level of the topic.  The difficulty is it may take professional development, teacher willing to collaborate with global colleagues, and time.  Baby steps are still better than no step at all.  

To me this kind of reaction from students is one we should all be striving to receive.  Our world has changed and continues to evolve, we need to change with it.  

I think many of my students feel they have no control over anything.  This statement can be a powerful motivator used with integrity.

I think this sentiment is true for all of us.  I am more motivated and engaged in assignments for these courses when I know the completed project has practical use with my students or staff.  Not many of us appreciate busywork to my knowledge.  We just don't have time for it.

I do a middle school battle of the books requiring students to submit 2 questions from each book they read.  They are expected to read a certain number of books to participate.  It was a game-changer when I started using their own questions instead of mine.  They were more engaged, listened for their questions, and teams were more excited about participating.  It really works!

Not only does it honor divergent ways of thinking, it also allows students to be exposed to another way of thought that they may not have considered.  Therefore helping students understand the concept even more and recognizing the creativeness of others.

I worked in a school district on the cutting edge of personalized learning.  The district ended up dissolving it back to traditional teaching.  I think a major factor in it's failure was this point… ongoing professional development and support have to be in place.

Interesting… this was another reason it failed.  Our district was split - buildings had nontrad vs traditional teachers. It was tearing the system apart.  From my experience I believe the vision has to be realized and accepted by majority across all positions for success. 

I understand this isn't the end all solution, but using a process like this could have saved that program from failing.  

Some teachers just have it… and others can learn aspects of it.

Isn't this what we have been talking about for at least a decade?  Let's get that data in the most efficient way so we can help students… work smarter not harder (that's said for students and staff).

This is important to students but also to parents/guardians.  I had parents in my office yesterday with real, valid concerns about their child's grades.  Real-time response keeps everyone involved apprised of the learning or lack of it.

I have benefited from synchronized meetings in classes during this program.  I can only imagine how much more students and teacher benefits from adaptive learning especially online.

This comment strongly resinates with me.  I cringe thinking of years I probably didn't have students working on right work because I didn't know better. Students that showed mastery early that should have been challenged with deeper level learning or some real-world application of the skill.  Big sigh… at least we know better now.

That sure hits it on the nail head.  Tech is changing and advancing every minute of every day.  We still work on computers considered dinosaurs, desktops that do not allow for being portable learners or flexible learning groups.  Funding is a major issue and willingness to plan for future tech could be difficult for change makers.  At least there are trailblazers out there leading the way.

That is a great statement.  I hadn't thought of it that way. Of course we, as teachers are/should be providing ways for individual students to succeed.  But adding tech and the ability to efficiently personalize needs (time, data-driven) in large numbers shows greater impact.

I personally have worked hard for my degrees.  I think Ben-Naim has a valid point in keeping the teacher center to learning.  Maybe the teacher needs to be intuitive enough to recognize when to be center, when to pull back, and when to facilitate.

This is another good point about personalized learning. For a successful outcome, staff members need to be informed and commit to making it work.  It would easily unravel without a majority of the staff understanding and "selling" it's value to students, parents, and themselves.

This makes my educator's heart hurt.  What is happening to our children?  I hear it from my friends with teenagers and "adult-eens", I see it in our students, and weep for parents struggling with younger children… lack of motivation, failure to thrive or even try.  Through discussions with children of all ages I'm disturbed to find many don't want to try because they fear failure.  I'm an intrinsic learner.  My parents had high expectations but also instilled the concept that at the end of the day we are all responsible for our own actions and outcomes.  Slipping is a choice, but I want to continue to be the educator to help students rise above.

I agree. Giving every member in a group the same grade should not be done to make grading easier or take less time for the teacher.  Group work usually produces at least one leader, followers and a few that lag or slack off.  In previous course we discussed ways to help all students be productive, effective members in a group assignment.  I found that information very helpful.  Useful in a classroom setting (face to face or online) as well as with colleagues.

I would hope it is explained to the students if the instructor chooses to use this evaluation.  Emphasze what peers are supposed to be rating group members and themselves can decrease or eliminate negative comments.

I agree that peer feedback can deepen the student's learning.  But I also know from experience it won't have the desired outcome without participants taking the exercise seriously.  They need to find value in helping others and listening to critiques.

Constructive feedback needs to be modeled by the teacher for students to do this successfully.  Professional development refreshers and training may need to be provided for teachers to attend.

McManus mentions how important it is not to compare the work to other students.  This should be a golden rule, one not to be forgotten.