The Clayton Christensen Institute teamed up with the Evergreen Education Group to publish 12 different case studies that attest to the success of blended learning in the classroom.

The districts all used both different blended learning strategies and edtech products, but independently improved test results and graduation rates after implementation, proving the degree of variation in blended learning strategy.

Some examples of success include Salt Lake City's opening of a school based entirely on implementing blended learning- Innovations Early College High School, which saw a graduation rate of 89% in its third year, well above the average city and state graduation rates.

In Cookeville, Tennessee, The Virtual Instruction to Accentuate Learning (VITAL) program of the Putnam County School System has provided blended learning options to students across the district and has consequentially improved graduation rates as well as enabled "hundreds of students to earn college credit while in high school."

The Washington County School District in St. George, Utah allows for students to choose courses in an A La Carte fashion "for recovery-content and original-content courses," improving graduation rates in the district by 8% in just two years.

And when the Enlarged City School District of Middletown, New York was provided with a Race to the Top Grant in 2013 to design its blended learning program, elementary schools that are now using blended learning have proven to surpass schools that are not in both reading and math based on state test scores.

Blended learning can be a complicated subject because as the 12 cases studies reveal, implementation can vary greatly, often making it difficult to make general claims about its overall success.

A report earlier this year from The International Association for K-12 Online Learning found that correct technology implementation and professional development of teachers to facilitate the learning model are crucial elements for successful blended learning.

Read more here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

09/28/2015