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Personalizing Learning for ELL Students

This week, the article I read was “A Historic Literacy Effort in California Brings Personalized Learning to English Language Learners” by Tim Newcomb. The article really shows the power that personalized learning can truly have not just for ELL students, but all students, if it is implemented properly.

In Napa County, California, Barbara Nemko (the superintendent of schools) partnered with Footsteps2Brilliance® to bring a digital version of early learning literacy to the students in her district. Footsteps2Brilliance® is “a transformative pre-K through 3rd grade literacy solution that utilizes mobile technology to connect school, home, and the community for academic success.  Its innovative Mobile Technology Platform allows comprehensive literacy apps to be accessed online or offline from any mobile device (Apple or Android) or traditional computer.  This enables school districts, for the first time ever, to leverage the mobile devices that parents already own to create Model Innovation Cities.”

Ms. Nemko’s desire and drive to provide this service and ability to her students started over two decades ago when she first realized that her nephew would be going to kindergarten with students who did not speak English.

Ms. Nemko piloted a personalized learning program that gave 16 ELL students iPads equipped with apps that contained over 200 books, learning games in both English and Spanish, and full-color interactive stories. Ms. Nemko’s reasoning for implementing the program is understandable and relatable: “Since typical English language learners come from homes where reading in any language isn’t common, students enter school without exposure to many words, or to written language. That uncertainty around English leads kids to remain reserved, reluctant to interact with classmates and teachers. Now, the students come to school and they have a richer vocabulary,” she says.

As is necessary with personalized learning, students are given around the clock access to their materials (iPads) and this allows them to move at their own pace. With the click of a button, ELL students can switch between English and Spanish, which improves comprehension in both languages. In just four weeks, reading comprehension scores improved by 65%. In year two of the pilot, scores improved again 43% from the year before.

I truly hope to see this kind of change in my district with the use of technology in the classroom. In the coming years, I will be working more towards personalizing learning for each and every one of my students using district provided iPads. I couldn’t agree more with Ms. Nemko’s final quote in the article, “The first message is, digital works. Digital is engaging, and the one thing we know is that student engagement is the biggest measure of achievement. If you are engaged more, you are going to learn more.”


I have seen a huge increase in student engagement using iPads in my classroom. How have you used classroom technology to personalize learning for your students? How else could I improve the understanding and engagement for my ELL students and English-speaking students?

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