Balancing freedom and limitations: A case study of choice provision in a personalized learning class

Abstract

This qualitative case study explored how middle school teachers and students experienced and perceived choice within a newly implemented personalized learning class. It found that teachers and students had different values, expectations, and interests related to student choice, which contributed to struggles for power and control within the personalized learning class. Findings suggest teachers may benefit from foregrounding personalized learning as a partnership in which students and teachers bring their voices into conversation while framing choice as a means toward collaboratively developed learning targets as opposed to an end in and of itself.