iNACOL Releases New Report on Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning

Washington, D.C. – Today, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) released a new report: Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning. This report provides state policy exemplars for policy leaders seeking to help enable educators advancing personalized learning environments in K-12 schools.

This report is a valuable resource for state policymakers—whether they are seeking to create conditions in state policy to support personalized learning, moving forward with initiatives to develop personalized learning pilot programs, hosting task forces to explore policy issues and needs, or taking a comprehensive policy approach for supporting advanced personalized learning models. Personalized learning is where instruction is tailored to each student’s strengths, needs, and interests—including enabling student voice and choice in what, how, when, and where they learn—to provide flexibility and supports to ensure mastery of the highest standards possible.

State policymakers can become partners with practitioners in identifying and removing system barriers to launching and supporting personalizing learning models to ensure each student’s success. In 2016, states have a historic opportunity to create flexibility to enable powerful, personalized learning experiences with the reauthorization of the federal K-12 education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Susan Patrick, iNACOL President and CEO, said, “High-quality personalized learning instructional models enable educators to co-design with students and provide life-changing, personalized learning opportunities that prepare them to succeed in college, career and citizenship. The promising policies outlined in this report will help states remove barriers and create conditions to enable and scale personalized learning.”

To download a full copy of the report, please visit iNACOL.org.

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part II

    As education leaders look toward 2026, the design of K–12 and higher education facilities is being reshaped by powerful, converging forces. Survey respondents point to the rapid growth of Career and Technical Education, deeper alignment with workforce and industry needs, and the accelerating influence of AI and emerging technologies.

  • Utah Valley University Opens New Engineering Building

    Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, recently held a grand-opening ceremony for the new Scott M. Smith Engineering Building, according to a news release. The facility is one of the largest engineering buildings in the state at almost 200,000 square feet, and it plays home to the university’s Smith College of Engineering and Technology (SCET).

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.

  • Houston K–12 District Opens New Elementary School

    The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (Lamar CISD) recently announced the completion of a new elementary school in a western suburb of Houston, Texas, according to a news release. Haygood Elementary School measures in at 110,000 square feet, has the capacity for 854 students, and is the first of three new schools scheduled to be built in the Cross Creek West community.