Miami-Dade County Public Schools was recognized recently at the White House as the leading large school district in innovation and personalized learning for all students particularly underserved ones.
Schools superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho had been invited to attend a discussion convened by the U.S. Department of Education and the White House where M-DCPS was recognized.
The USDOE’s Office of Innovation and Improvement partnered with the White House Domestic Policy Council to invite a select group of school superintendents from around the country who are leading personalized learning efforts nationwide. M-DCPS was the only school system from Florida among the 35 districts invited to attend the one-day, roundtable discussion at the White House.
“Education is the great equalizer,” Carvalho said. “Miami-Dade County Public Schools is honored to be recognized for our innovation and personalized learning for all students. This recognition is a testament to the teaching ingenuity of our exceptional team of educators and the impact of the school district’s academic rigor and enrichment opportunities for students.”
Some of M-DCPS’ personalized learning includes Digital Convergence — a multi-year initiative that has resulted in the distribution of over 140,000 digital devices to enhance the learning experiences and complement the 11,620 interactive boards previously installed in classrooms and 45 million square feet of physical space configured for Wi-Fi connectivity; iPrep Academy — a K-12 school led by Carvalho that leverages an innovative, technology-rich environment to provide robust personalized learning experiences for all students. The program has been franchised into 11 other high schools as choice academies, and iPrep Math — a personalized and blended instructional program in the District’s 49 middle schools that combines adaptive software with face-to-face instruction to encourage an inquiry- based approach to the study of mathematics.
The superintendents also described the barriers and challenges they each identified to provide equity and access through personalized learning. Among the topics was:
• Students’ access to technology at home, particularly in high-poverty areas. M-DCPS has aimed to ameliorate this through the JumpStart Connect @ Home initiative in select elementary schools across the District;
• Equitable access to qualified teachers who can effectively facilitate personalized learning for all students, particularly those that are struggling and live in high-poverty areas, and
• Reconciling the delivery of personalized learning with the demands of a state-mandated assessment program/timeline.
