More Resources

On this page, you will find downloadable tips and recommendations for implementing personalized learning systems at both the state and national levels. NCLD has prepared roadmaps for individuals, schools and systems, as well action steps for all states to successfully integrate students with disabilities into personalized learning systems successfully.

This work reflects one of the first deep analyses of personalized learning on the 6.4 million students with disabilities across the nation.  We are grateful for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in supporting our effort to elevate students with disabilities in this national conversation.

National Resources

Click on the title of each document to download a PDF version.

Personalized Learning: Policy & Practice Recommendations for Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities: This 2016 report was developed in conjunction with a national convening NCLD held, drawing together students with disabilities and personalized learning experts to discuss how personalized learning systems can be designed to best support the learning of students with disabilities.

Personalized Learning Meeting the Needs of Students With Disabilities, Key Considerations: This two-page document includes key considerations from research on maximizing the benefits of personalized learning systems for students with disabilities.

Roadmap for Parents and Families This two-page summary includes key considerations on what families can do to seize benefits of personalized learning for their children with disabilities (developed through the support of NCLD’s national convening on meeting the needs of students with disabilities in personalized learning systems).

Roadmap for Educators This two-page summary includes key considerations on what educators can do to seize benefits of personalized learning for students with disabilities (developed through the support of NCLD’s national convening on meeting the needs of students with disabilities in personalized learning systems).

Roadmap for School & District Leaders This two-page summary includes key considerations on what principals and district administrators can do to seize benefits of personalized learning for students with disabilities (developed through the support of NCLD’s national convening on meeting the needs of students with disabilities in personalized learning systems).

Roadmap for Systems Change This two-page summary includes key considerations on what federal, state, and local policy leaders can do to seize benefits of personalized learning for students with disabilities (developed through the support of NCLD’s national convening on meeting the needs of students with disabilities in personalized learning systems).

Agents of Their Own Success: Self-Advocacy Skills and Self-Determination for Students with Disabilities in the Era of Personalized Learning: This report highlights steps students, families, educators, policy makers, and other key stakeholders in our education system can take to ensure all students are equipped with self-advocacy skills and the capacity for self-determination: elements we know are critical to their success in personalized learning settings.

State Resources

Click on the title of each document to download a PDF version.

National Report: Personalized Learning for All: Actions for States to Make Aspirations a Reality: This national report provides a summary NCLD’s work across North Carolina, New Hampshire and Colorado.  It includes a synthesis of challenges and opportunities for students with disabilities in personalized learning systems and actions states can take to move this work to the next level.

Recommendations for Policy and Practice in Colorado: This publication is the product of 36 interviews, two virtual meetings, and a statewide meeting on how Colorado can enhance opportunities for students with disabilities in their personalized learning efforts.  Recommendations include providing a clear and inclusive vision of personalized learning in the state and aligning pre-service and in-service educator training with this vision.

Recommendations for Policy and Practice in New Hampshire: This publication is the product of 34 interviews, two virtual meetings, and a statewide meeting on how New Hampshire can enhance opportunities for students with disabilities in their statewide competency-based education effort. Recommendations include creating affinity groups within state pilot efforts to learn and share best practices and scaling efforts to promote greater accessibility to learning opportunities for students with disabilities.

Recommendations for Policy and Practice in North Carolina: This publication is the product of 27 interviews, two virtual meetings, and a statewide meeting on how North Carolina can enhance opportunities for students with disabilities in their relatively fledgling personalized learning efforts.  Recommendations include suggestions on how the state can better define its work around an inclusive implementation of personalized learning and align resources around data management, assessments, accountability, and interventions to support success for all students.

Case Studies

Click on the title of each case study to download a PDF version.

New Hampshire

Transforming Learning from the Ground Up Through New Hampshire’s PACE Assessments: This case study describes New Hampshire’s efforts at implementing a large-scale assessment system and the challenges and opportunities it poses for students with disabilities.  The story is particularly important as more states and districts consider shifts away from standardized tests and towards performance-based forms of assessment.

Implementing UDL at D.J. Bakie Elementary School: This case study describes the work of a school in scaling universal design for learning as a framework guiding broader actions around personalized learning.  The steps the school took are particularly important in highlighting that integrating equity and inclusion is not easy, but doable if a school is committed to the broader goal.

Extended Learning Opportunities at Hinsdale High School: Part of the appeal of personalized learning is that it breaks the paradigm of learning taking place in a single location, a single time period, through a single mode, and by single person.  This case study describes how one rural high school broke down this paradigm through support for extended learning opportunities, while maintaining a commitment to excellence and rigor of experiences for all students.

Colorado

Westminster’s Interventionist Approach: This case study describes Westminster Public Schools’ approach to delivering interventions in a competency-based system.  The interventionist approach emphasizes integration and simultaneously addresses the needs of struggling and accelerating learners.

The UCCS B.A. in Inclusive Elementary Education: This case study describes how the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs has shifted its model of teacher preparation from including a specialized track for special education to ensuring all candidates have the skills to serve all students.  Given special educator shortages nationally, the lessons of the College are particularly useful for other programs working to prepare candidates for more personalized, inclusive classrooms.

Leveraging Design-Thinking to Advance Change: This case study describes how actions in both policy and practice can be built upon a mindset of inclusion and innovation.  The role of two actors, a teacher at a school implementing personalized learning and a non-profit supporting that work, are explored with specific focus on how they leverage design-thinking to improve outcomes for students with disabilities.

North Carolina

Lake Wylie Elementary School’s K-1 Combination Class: This practical example describes the process an elementary school in the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Schools implemented to ensure their personalized learning effort put inclusion front and center for its students. The effort is particularly important, because depending on the approach, personalized learning could otherwise lead to greater separation of students with and without disabilities.

The Role of Project-Based Learning at Warren New Tech High School: This case study discusses the systemic process a school can take to ensure project-based learning can benefit all students.  The case study details a rural high school’s 8-step approach as well as its challenges and benefits.

Personalized Interventions at Landis Elementary School: This case study describes Landis Elementary School’s approach to strategically using technology to facilitate more personalized interventions for students with disabilities and other students.  Stories like this are particularly important as schools and districts grapple with how to support struggling learners in personalized learning systems.