Accelerating Texas K12 Education: The Importance of Personalized Instruction for Students

The core foundation of every successful movement in cultivating change and growth is education. Former district superintendent and current Executive Director of The Texas School Alliance, Dr. Curtis Culwell, joined host J.W. Marshall to speak about educational policy, innovation, and student experience.

Dr. Culwell realizes that not every student starts at the same place; wherein the need for differential learning for students exists.

In learning from the pandemic, Dr. Culwell stated the need for the effects on learning to be critically evaluated and applied, if useful, in situations moving forward. In speaking on this topic, Dr. Culwell stated, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” which directly referenced the transitionary properties the pandemic has had on education.

While education today may “look like swiss cheese” given the gaps in learning that were and are still caused by the pandemic, technology is trying to fill this gap via accelerated learning.

Dr. Culwell recognized the impact distance learning had on different students and different families. The situation did not work for everyone, but there was a study recently published which highlighted that virtual learning improved learning in “10-20% of students.”

In this way, Dr. Culwell highlighted the fact that no one side fits all, especially when it comes to education. There are a multitude of aspects within learning environments, including social and emotional factors, which can contribute to the students’ learning process.

Dr. Culwell posed a question of the relationship between virtual learning and equity – how might this play out in the future of education? Dr. Culwell thought it might be creating an understanding on how one might use technology as a resource for building personalized learning plans for students.

One thing is for certain, what we learned from the pandemic and what we continue to learn is pertinent to the future of building life-long learners in education.