The advance of innovative, technology-driven personalized strategies has improved sectors such as healthcare, marketing, and retail. In 2009, former math teacher Joel Rose partnered with technology expert Chris Rush to create a dynamic product to help improve the way students learn and comprehend math skills, ensuring they are on the path to college and career readiness. The product is Teach to One 360 (formerly School of One), and it is revolutionizing the way students learn and educators teach, helping reduce learning gaps among math students in grades 5-12.
Teach to One 360 is an innovative platform developed by the nonprofit organization New Classrooms Innovation Partners. It provides an adaptive, personalized curriculum using algorithms to identify each student’s strengths and areas of improvement, building customized daily lesson plans, or student playlists, based on these algorithms. Students begin the school year by completing an adaptive math skills test (MAP) and diagnostic test, both of which analyze mastered skills and learning gaps. The diagnostic test is administered up to three times per year, and the student playlist is automatically adjusted based on the outcome of each test.
The Teach to One 360 platform includes eight learning modalities, each tailored to how math students learn best. The learning modalities are broken into three categories: teacher-led, student collaboration, and independent practice. These modalities combine face-to-face instruction and computer-led virtual lessons, so students get the most out of their learning experience.
Traditional vs. Technology-Based Learning
Teach to One 360 co-founders, Joel Rose and Chris Rush, have long believed the current traditional model of classroom learning is outdated. Rose, a former math teacher, has seen students struggle to keep up with grade-level materials when they are not ready. Math is a unique subject in that it is cumulative; all instruction builds upon what was previously taught, and falling behind in one math skill can cause an iceberg effect as students move through the education system.
School district administrators and teachers in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, Florida, and six other states have brought Teach to One 360 into their schools, as they were consistently seeing below-average test scores among their students. The traditional curriculum simply was not working. At first, many teachers were apprehensive about the idea of using technology to develop learning pathways, but they quickly realized Teach to One 360 is meant to create a symbiotic relationship between the traditional learning model using the advantages of technology-based learning.
Teach to One 360 Allows Students to Work at Their Own Pace
Since the inception of Teach to One 360 in 2011, the innovative platform has received the attention and support of education-focused foundations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bezos Family Foundation, and is now implemented in math classrooms across the country.
There are other technology-based platforms that offer on-grade, customized lesson plans and identify students’ learning gaps, but Teach to One 360 provides a unique ability for students to access a multigrade curriculum to further develop math skills.
Taos Middle School in Taos, New Mexico, began using Teach to One 360 in 2015 for this reason. Within one school year, the school saw a noticeable improvement among its sixth-grade students and has since implemented the platform throughout all grades. The principal of Taos Middle School, Alfred Cordova, shares that all students have benefited from Teach to One 360, not just those who may be struggling.
Teach to One 360 uses computerized testing and personalized algorithms to develop individualized lesson plans for each student. Gifted students are also able to work at a pace that will challenge them in ways that prevent them from getting bored.
Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
When the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly closed schools in mid-March, Teach to One 360 quickly worked with its partner schools to provide flexibility to students and teachers, allowing them to access the platform in a remote setting. Rose and Rush noted that because the platform is computerized, the transition was easy. Students were able to identify their math lesson plans each day, and teachers quickly adapted to using Zoom and other video conferencing services to create face-to-face instructions in a virtual setting.
As the 2020-2021 school year approached, New Classrooms developed a zero-cost version called Teach to One Roadmaps Free so all students are provided with an opportunity to receive a snapshot of where they currently are, where they need to go, and how they can get there. The organization also developed a cost-friendly version, Roadmaps Plus, which goes one step further in providing tailored content to students throughout the year.
About New Classrooms Innovation Partners and Teach to One 360
New Classrooms Innovation Partners (New Classrooms) was founded in 2009 by former math teacher Joel Rose and technology and design expert Chris Rush. New Classrooms is a national nonprofit on a mission to personalize education for each student. Beginning with an initiative called School of One, which Time named as one of the Best Inventions of the Year in 2009, the organization developed a structured and dynamic platform that challenges the traditional education model. New Classrooms’ innovative learning solution, Teach to One 360, ensures each student is learning the right math lesson, at the right time, and in the right way, meeting their strengths and addressing gaps in learning. Teach to One 360 is currently used by thousands of students in schools nationwide. To learn more, visit www.teachtoone.org.