Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades

Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades shows how teachers in grades 5–8 can leverage the use of personalized learning plans (PLPs) to increase student agency and engagement, helping youth to establish learning goals aligned with their interests and assess their own learning–particularly around essential skills that cut across disciplines.
 
Drawing on their research and work with fifty schools in Vermont, where PLPs are used statewide, the authors show how personalized learning aligns with effective middle grades practice and provide in-depth examples of how educators have implemented PLPs in a wide range of schools representing different demographics and grade configurations. They also highlight five critical roles for teachers in personalized learning environments–as empowerer, scaffolder, scout, assessor, and community builder–and illustrate how teachers can adapt the PLP process for their own unique contexts.
 
Grounded in experience and full of engaging examples, artifacts, and tools, the book builds on the emerging field of personalized learning and connects it with the developmental needs of middle schoolers to provide a unique and valuable resource for individual classroom teachers, teacher teams, school leaders, teachereducators, and others.

Penny A. Bishop is a professor of middle level education at the University of Vermont, where she conducts research on schooling for young adolescents and teaches future middle grades educators.

John M. Downes is a director of the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education at the University of Vermont.

Katy Farber is a professional development coordinator at the University of Vermont's Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education.