It might seem to be a less-than-realistic plan: Put nearly 200 preteens in one large classroom space and expect each of them, with the help of laptops and a few teachers, to learn math at his or her own pace.
But that arrangement is at the core of a new instructional approach that one of the District’s lowest-performing middle schools adopted this fall.
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Reveley, the third generation in his family to lead a Virginia university, has a lot of constituencies to please.
Montgomery high school students have been failing math finals at a high rate for five years, data show.
Thousands of Fairfax schools employees will probably receive raises in January.
Pioneered in New York and expanding to other cities, “Teach to One” puts a computer algorithm in charge of figuring out what each child needs to learn and do each day, a design meant to ensure that students master one concept before moving onto another.
“If it works like we think it will, it’ll be a game-changer,” said D.C. schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson of the new program at Hart Middle School in Southeast Washington, where less than 30 percent of students are proficient in math.
This is the leading edge of the larger “blended learning” movement that many reformers think could transform education in the United States, harnessing technology to help teachers deliver personalized lessons to every child.
Schools are experimenting across the country and in the Washington region. Alexandria high school students at risk of dropping out can take all classes online, with the requirement that they spend at least 20 hours per week working at a satellite campus in a storefront at Landmark Mall. Many schools in the District are using blended approaches, including at Kramer Middle, where students take all core classes online with classroom teachers offering one-on-one tutoring and small-group help.
The federal government is throwing its weight behind the effort, too, offering $400 million in competitive Race to the Top grants to school systems that put forth innovative plans for tailoring education for individual students.
Many unknowns
But for all the buzz and investment, experts say there is scant evidence that such blended approaches are more effective than traditional teaching, and there are many unanswered questions about what it means for school budgets and teachers’ working conditions.
And the programs don’t come cheap: It cost $1 million to bring Teach to One to a single classroom at Hart this year, including $600,000 from D.C. Public Schools’ central office for renovations, and $400,000 in donations from the CityBridge Foundation and the D.C. Public Education Fund.
Western Michigan University professor Gary Miron, a prominent critic of full-time online schools where students learn entirely by laptop at home, said he is far more optimistic about blended programs. But he urged caution, saying each model should be tested and evaluated before it is expanded.
“I certainly think it’s worth a try on a small scale to test these ideas, and be willing to back out if it doesn’t work,” Miron said.
The unanswered questions about blended learning are no deterrent for educators grasping for a solution to persistently low student achievement.
“To me it was a no-brainer: Very little risk and big return,” said Dominick D’Angelo, principal of Boody Junior High School in Brooklyn, among the first three schools to try what is now Teach to One, in 2010. “I thought, ‘It can’t be worse than traditional instruction.’ ”
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