District starts move towards personalized learning

As the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District approaches the start of the 2017 to 2018 school year, administrators and teachers are starting to implement the early stages of a new educational approach: personalized learning.

In conjunction with the personalized education consulting group, Education Elements, the district is shaping what personalized learning will look like throughout the different schools and classrooms that make up the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.

“We are very excited to work with Education Elements as a part of our strong investment in our staff,” Superintendent Sean Dusek said in a statement on the district’s website. “We are poised to make significant progress in personalizing the educational experience for all of our students and this professional development will help us fulfill our long term goals in this endeavor.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

In the weeks leading up to students in the hallways, administrators and teachers have been meeting with the Education Elements team to start their professional development with a focus on personalized learning.

First comes understanding what personalized learning is, according to Education Elements Associate Partner Scott Johns.

“We want to design our classrooms around the needs of students, so that all students can be successful,” Johns said. “Not just a few classrooms that meet in the middle, we want schools and classrooms that meet the needs of every student.”

To achieve this, four core elements are used — the integration of digital content, targeted instruction, data-driven decisions and student reflection and ownership.

Instead of expecting students to adapt to structures that may not be successful for them, personalized learning structures the schools, classrooms and instruction to best fit individual students’ needs, according to a letter from Dusek to district staff.

“Ultimately, we are aiming for learning anytime, anywhere, with technology as a tool to provide more rigor and relevancy in a student’s education,” Dusek said. “This is a necessary component of personalized learning.”

Over the course of three years, Education Elements will work with the district in phases, with the first wave of schools starting their work with personalized learning this upcoming school year and the final phase of schools starting in August of 2019.

“We’re trying to be open and transparent,” Johns said. “It’s a process and will take time to develop. We don’t just say ‘do this, or do that.’ It’s a process where we say ‘What does this mean for Kenai? What do you want to create? What do you want classrooms to look like?’”

Education Elements began their work in May with a kick-off event and are moving forward with personalized learning in the district at two levels, at the individual school level and the overarching district level.

It’s important, though, for the community to also be cognizant of what personalized learning is.

“We want to be sure that parents, community members and students understand that student needs matter,” Johns said.

Reach Kat Sorensen at kat.sorensen@peninsulaclarion.com

More in News

Rep. Andi Story (D-Juneau), Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (I-Sitka), and Rep. Sarah Vance (R-Homer) watch the vote tally during a veto override joint session on an education bill Tuesday, May 20. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Dunleavy outlines priorities for special session

The Senate and House majority say the Legislature plans to consider two veto overrides.

Mount Marathon, seen July 4, 2022, in Seward, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Swiss hiker rescued near Mount Marathon in Seward

The hiker said he’d climbed a mountain and gone beyond his ability

tease
‘All the kids are grand champions’

Kenai Peninsula 4-H shows off at Agriculture Expo

Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chilson and Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney grill hot dogs at the Progress Days Block Party at Parker Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Progress Days block party keeps celebration going

Vendors, food trucks, carnival games and contests entertained hundreds

Children take candy from a resident of Heritage Place during the 68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days Parade in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘It feels so hometown’

68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days parade brings festivity to city streets

Kachemak Bay is seen from the Homer Spit in March 2019. (Homer News file photo)
Toxin associated with amnesic shellfish poisoning not detected in Kachemak Bay mussels

The test result does not indicate whether the toxin is present in other species in the food web.

Superintendent Clayton Holland speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Federal education funding to be released after monthlong delay

The missing funds could have led to further cuts to programming and staff on top of deep cuts made by the KPBSD Board of Education this year.

An angler holds up a dolly varden for a photograph on Wednesday, July 16. (Photo courtesy of Koby Etzwiler)
Anchor River opens up to Dollies, non-King salmon fishing

Steelhead and rainbow trout are still off limits and should not be removed from the water.

A photo provided by NTSB shows a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, that crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska, Sept. 12, 2023. The plane was weighed down by too much moose meat and faced drag from a set of antlers mounted on its right wing strut, federal investigators said on Tuesday.
Crash that killed husband of former congresswoman was overloaded with moose meat and antlers, NTSB says

The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska on Sept. 12, 2023.

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in