![\"personalized](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/brown.jpg\")
<\/a>The key ingredient: a personalized learning coordinator.<\/h4>\n
As people in the education community know, there are four main flexible pathways for personalized learning in Vermont:<\/p>\n
- \n
- work-based learning<\/li>\n
- online learning<\/li>\n
- dual enrollment<\/li>\n
- and career and technical education.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
As schools explore creative ways to engage students remotely, it\u2019s likely we\u2019ll see an uptick in the use of these programs.<\/p>\n
In my research, I crunched the numbers on dozens of different factors to see how they were linked to student participation in flexible pathways.<\/h4>\n
When I did, one relationship was stronger than all the others, separating schools with robust flexible pathway programs from those with weak programs. It was almost too obvious.<\/p>\n
What was the magic ingredient? A coordinator.<\/p>\n
Schools that had a personalized learning coordinator on staff tended to have higher rates of student participation in their flexible pathway programs.<\/p>\n
Without diving too deep into the methodology, it\u2019s worth explaining where that result comes from.<\/h4>\n
In the fall of 2019, I sent out a survey to all principals of Vermont public high schools asking about their personalized learning and flexible pathways programs. I asked for all sorts of details: professional development priorities, advisory programs, student leadership, parental engagement, and more.<\/p>\n
35 out of 60 principals \u2013 58.3% \u2013 provided data. And the numbers told a story.<\/p>\n
![\"personalized](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/data_table1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWithout any fancy statistical methods, I could estimate the rates at which students across the state were actually participating in flexible pathways. I could see how many schools had a devoted personalized learning coordinator.<\/p>\n
But actually crunching those numbers revealed results that were even more telling.<\/h4>\n
![\"personalized](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/data_table2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen I regressed flexible pathway participation rates on each school-level factor, I found there was a statistically significant positive relationship between the presence of a pathways coordinator and student participation in flexible pathway programs. Even when controlling for school size and student poverty rate.<\/p>\n
(There were other findings too, but \u2013 shameless plug, again \u2013 you can find more specific data in my paper <\/a>(.pdf))<\/p>\n
How big was the effect?<\/p>\n
Having a pathways coordinator on staff was associated with an increase in overall flexible pathway participation of five to fifteen percentage points.<\/strong><\/p>\n
When I interviewed some of those coordinators, the reasons for this bump in participation became clear.<\/p>\n
Flexible pathways can help students learn in new and engaging ways. For example, at the workplace through an internship placement. Or about a new topic \u2013 say marine biology \u2013 through an online course.<\/p>\n
But these opportunities can be difficult for students to set up on their own. And without a coordinator to help them select the right options and then navigate the registration process, many students miss out entirely. Especially for students who don\u2019t have parents actively involved in their education, flexible pathway options can become inaccessible.<\/p>\n
Take dual enrollment, for example.<\/h4>\n
Dual enrollment allows Vermont students to take college courses while still in high school, giving students a taste of college-level content and allowing them to get a few credits under their belt before enrolling in college. The policy was intended to make higher education more accessible to first-generation students. Has it followed through on that goal?<\/p>\n
Not exactly.<\/p>\n
Because there are so many hoops students have to jump through to register for dual enrollment, the programs have mostly become populated by well-resourced students. \u201cDual enrollment is for your high-flyers,\u201d April Wortmann, a coordinator from Mt. Abraham Middle High School, explained to me. \u201cIt kind of did the inverse of the intent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar issues crop up with online learning.<\/h4>\n
Without a coordinator, how will students find and enroll in the course that\u2019s right for them? Or work-based learning. How will students set up an internship placement all on their own?<\/p>\n
Again and again, I found that when students are left without a coordinator to guide them, flexible pathway programs tended to create starker divides between the \u201chaves\u201d and the \u201chave nots.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how, you may ask, does all this play into school reopenings?<\/p>\n
Coordinators as a COVID learning solution<\/h4>\n