Personalized Learning Is Not a Trend — It’s the Future
Personalized learning has become one of the most common phrases in education today. To do it well is not easy. It is not a program you purchase or a slogan you add to a mission statement. True personalized learning requires courageous leadership, disciplined systems, and a willingness to put students and teachers at the center of everything.
Under my leadership as CEO and co-founder of Elite Academic Academy (EAA), a public charter school, we built a model that proved personalized learning can be real, measurable, and scalable. In one year, English Language Arts proficiency rose 8 % and Math climbed 14 % . Over time, the results are even greater. This is a school where over half the students live under the poverty line and enrollment grew by as much as 35 % in a single year.
EAA earned Marzano High Reliability Schools Level 1 and Level 2 certifications that placed us on a clear path toward the highest levels of competency-based education. Marzano is the leading education research institution in the nation, which means our work was not only innovative but also anchored in best practices recognized across the field.
These outcomes were never the goal in themselves. They were the byproduct of focusing on students and their needs. When systems are built around learners rather than forcing them into a mold, growth follows.
Innovation became the DNA of the school. Every student and every staff member engaged in Questions Quest, a yearlong journey in learning how to ask thought-provoking questions that drive deeper understanding. Teachers were redefined in the virtual setting and moved from content deliverers to facilitators of inquiry and reflection.
In addition, tutors, community partners, and targeted supports surrounded each learner so that no two educational paths looked the same. We looked at the student first and then aligned the standards. Flip education on its head, and you discover what is possible.
One of the most transformative innovations was Elite X, a professional learning fellowship that gave staff and students access to coaching more often associated with Fortune 500 executives. It raised expectations, built leadership capacity at every level, and fueled the measurable gains we achieved.
The recently published Elite X White Paper details this model and shows how it can be scaled nationally to strengthen personalized learning. Like our Marzano certifications, the White Paper demonstrates that innovation and best practices can live side by side to deliver extraordinary results.
As CEO of a charter school, I had the flexibility to operate more like a business. Unlike traditional districts, our structure allowed for different decision making and agility. Both roles, superintendents and charter school leaders, carry immense responsibility but function within very different systems. Our role was to push boundaries, try innovative ideas, and stay accountable while doing it.
That is the heart of the charter school movement. I paid administrators and teachers well, aligned our work to both educational research and business best practices, and maintained full transparency with zero audit exceptions. I hired the best in the business. Yes, they were expensive because they were qualified and good.
These administrators and teachers were paid to support us in getting results, and they sure did. All of my decisions were made to allow for high quality personalization and to find ways to improve proficiency for even the toughest student situations. Something many schools are failing to do.
We made large gains while enrollment increased year after year, thereby proving that scaling growth and sustaining success can happen at the same time. The result was a system designed to serve students better and prove that innovation — when done with integrity — works, even in the public school system.
Some may not like that charters have flexibility and can run things differently than districts, but with results like these, they cannot deny Elite Academic Academy's structure works better than most. It’s answering the call to some of education's toughest problems.
At Elite, personalization worked because it was not just a philosophy, it was a system built around people. Students had voice and choice. Teachers were empowered to lead and design. Data guided decisions, but relationships drove the work. Growth followed not by chance, but by intention.
Getting to know a student deeply enough to tailor their education is not easy. It takes skill, experience, and years of training to master. As artificial intelligence begins to make parts of this process easier, I challenge those exploring it to study the schools that achieved success without it, schools that have already proven what is possible when people lead with purpose. Schools such as Elite Academic Academy.
When schools trust and support teachers, center students, and have the courage to innovate, everyone wins. Personalized learning is not a trend, it is the future. Watch as Elite Academic Academy continues to lead the way. #BeElite
