Dive Brief:
- A meTEOR Education study of more than 7,000 educators and students reported that attitudes toward education remain traditional, and despite efforts to modernize many educators say not much progress is being made.
- A quarter of the educators surveyed said schools are still "very traditional," and 29% reported that their schools are only just starting to make a change to more personalized education models. Fewer than 40% said substantial progress in these areas were already being made.
- The study's authors did, however, find a number of models that they were changing education, and promoted ideas such as personalized learning, increased student voice and flexible scheduling.
Dive Insight:
Since the 1970s and the Open Education movement, schools have been trying to move past the industrial-era, factory-based model of teacher-led lecture but with mixed results. While the ideas espoused in that movement (namely, open classroom design and individual student freedom) seem modern, they were mostly abandoned, with some exceptions, as being too difficult to implement.
A number of schools have made progress, however, and efforts to scale personalized learning technology and platforms to traditional public schools is taking place, notably via the AltSchool movement.
For now, a number of charter, private and individual schools are leading the way, reinventing the school day to get students to focus on new concepts, such as entrepreneurship, mentorship, career education and curriculum based on student interest.