NEW YORK SCHOOLS TO USE ADAPTIVE LEARING SOFTWARE

Under the School of One (So1) math programme in New York City, adaptive-learning software gears math lessons towards students’ individual progress. So instead of one teacher checking on an entire class’ performance indicators, assessments and instruction planning, the teacher can just “focus on the delivery of instruction”, said Mafa Edwards, a teacher involved in the SO1 pilot in 2009.

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The SO1 programme maps out the specific academic needs of each student through data collection and surveys, then match the information, using SO1’s learning algorithm, to digital educational resources. Each day, this learning algorithm takes updated data about students and available materials and create a unique schedule, a ‘playlist’, of each of them to follow the next day.

90 six grade students enrolled in the first SO1’s proof of concept in summer 2009 at MS131. This proof of concept found a 28 per cent rise in scores between pre-test and post-test for the participants. Researchers then concluded that the result, combined with positive qualitative data from the classroom, warranted the expansion of the programme to serve students in after-school or in-school settings.

During spring of 2010, after-school and in-school pilots were held and evaluated by the New York City Department of Education’s Research and Policy Study Group (RPSG). Comparison between students who participated in the programme and those who did not,RPSG estimated that SO1 students learn at a rate 50-60 per cent higher than those in traditional classrooms.

The SO1 programme has since won a US$5 million federal investment grant to develop its technology platform, expand into four new New York City schools in 2012–2013 and eventually and serve an estimated 3000 students annually. In 2009, SO1 was named by Time magazine as one of the top 50 inventions of that year.

Jonathan Werle, SO1’s Project Manager, will report directly to the Department of Education’s Deputy Chancellor for Talent, Labour, and Innovation.

ARTICLE BY >> Xinghui Guo

SOURCES >> ASIA PACIFIC FUTURE GOV