photo by: Richard Gwin

Second-graders in Paula Barr's Quail Run Elementary class — from left, Richard Li, Matthew Liu, and Cayman Cook — work together on a math assignment, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015.

The Lawrence school board on Monday will hear an update on the progress of personalized learning (via a blended format) in local classrooms. The report will address, among other things, the results of an ongoing survey that includes feedback on the initiative from Lawrence teachers, students and parents.

The blended learning method, which began with a pilot program of eight classrooms during the 2012-2013 school year, “blends” lecture-based instruction with small-group or individual activities that often rely on technology and online resources.

“We started several years ago back in 2013 with two questions that we wanted to answer,” Terry McEwen, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said of the implementation of the teaching method in Lawrence schools. “One was, how can we increase student engagement? And the other was, how can we increase teachers’ time with their individual students?”

Now, with the district embarking on its fourth year of the blended learning initiative, McEwen and other district leaders are shifting their focus slightly. Over the years, McEwen said, the Lawrence schools’ initiative has become “better positioned” to instead go by a different name: personalized learning.

The idea is to instill in students a sense of ownership in their own classroom experience. If students understand why material is personally relevant and useful to them, they’ll likely take more responsibility in learning, ideally leading to increased academic success, McEwen said.

Monday’s presentation — co-authored by Angelique Nedved, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning — will present survey feedback generated from 2013 to 2016. In the latest cycle of the ongoing survey, which asks participants of their experiences with blended learning, 300 teachers responded.

As of the 2016-2017 school year, there are 350 district-supported blended classrooms (mostly at the elementary level) across Lawrence. The district plans to expand the method to the majority of its approximately 700 classrooms in the following years.

Those numbers only represent the teachers who have been selected by the district through an application process, McEwen said, and don’t necessarily extend to teachers who may be experimenting with some aspects of blended/personalized learning on their own.

“We’re getting positive feedback,” McEwen said of the implementation. “Is it hitting on every cylinder every single minute of every single day?”

Maybe not. But in classrooms, where learning varies from student to student, that’s to be expected, he added. “We have to continually change things up,” McEwen said.

In other business, the board will:

• Hear an update from Tony Barron, executive director of facilities and operations, on the district’s 2013 bond construction projects.

• Host a work session, preceding the school board’s regular meeting, for the master plan for improvements to secondary schools. The session will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

The school board will meet for its regular meeting at 7 p.m. at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.