Saying Goodbye to One Size Fits All

Abstract: Before the first laptop was even introduced to the school in 2008, Asa Clark Middle School (ACMS) in Pewaukee, WI, had already begun its journey toward establishing a student-centered learning environment. The idea behind the transformation was to make learning, not teaching, the focus of all the school’s decisions. This meant enhancing its use of technology and creating an environment in which authentic collaboration, data-driven decision making and continuous improvement processes acted as the school’s guide. In this article, Randy Daul, ACMS principal, and Lisa Rettler, ACMS associate principal, discuss how the middle school transformed teaching and learning to provide a student-centered learning environment for self-paced, data-driven achievement. They will present their efforts to practice 21st century learning at their school in their session, “Personalized Learning Journey: Say Goodbye to One Size Fits All,” at the 2012 National Quality Education Conference.

Keywords: Primary and Secondary Education Brief - 21st Century Skills