Learning Spaces

Propelling Personalized Learning: Education Leader Joel Rose’s Journey To The Creation Of Teach To One

Teachers, principals, coaches, and professional educators have long since been revered members of communities across the country, championing the successes of young people in every capacity. Committed to their duties, and deeply invested in the life-changing capacity of their chosen professions, many educators have devoted their professional trajectories to the important construct of shaping the minds of young people, effectively preparing them for further education, and setting them out to succeed within the professional world. Dedicated to these tasks, many educators have overcome various limitations to consistently foster the most fruitful outcomes, rising in the face of adversities, and excelling with vastly limited resources. 

From steadily cut budgets, to overcrowded classrooms, and children placed into one classroom at various comprehension levels, dedicated teachers have crafted resources to benefit their bespoke needs, and have been the innovators dedicated to championing successful education. Borne out of a unique firsthand knowledge regarding the realities of the modern classroom, many of the most cutting-edge educational platforms, learning models, and educational products have been borne from the dedication of committed educators. 

Teach To One, the innovative learning model that has transcended traditional math education to provide customized learning for all students, was born from such a commitment to the betterment of the educational model. For Joel Rose, Co-Founder and CEO of Teach To One, the development of this monumental math learning platform was the culmination of the recognition of the vast problems plaguing traditional math classrooms, and the desire to transform the status quo. As a fifth grade math teacher in Houston, Rose was professionally driven by the idea of assisting his students with math comprehension, and properly preparing them for the next phase of their educational trajectory. Passionate about his role, Rose dedicated large amounts of time to becoming the best teacher he could become. 

Before long, however, Rose discovered that even his motivations were outmatched by the encumbrances that plagued the traditional math classrooms across the country. In the beginning of the school year, Rose recognized that his fifth grade classroom contained students at vastly different comprehension levels, some understanding mathematical concepts at a second grade level, while others understanding concepts at a seventh grade level. With one standardized curriculum determined to be at an appropriate fifth grade level, Rose simply wasn’t armed with the necessary resources, tools, time, and physical space to provide each child with the individual attention that would render them at the same level of understanding. Recognizing this to be a widespread issue amongst educators, Rose set out to determine more effective paths for maximizing math education. Cognizant that the status quo simply wasn’t working, Rose set out to forge a new path in the quest for effective math education for all. 

With vast variations between the comprehension levels of students within singular classrooms, and differences in preferred learning styles amongst students, Rose recognized that the traditional instruction model would never be as effective as possible, and that allowing educators to work within multiple modalities at once could be an effective way to successfully implement the personalized learning needed for each student to thrive. Calling for systemic change to modernize the infrastructure of the classroom setting to maximize success, Rose began to create the blueprint for what would eventually come to be known as Teach To One.

Initially, he sought to create a modernized platform that would incorporate an effective academic platform, as well as a forward-thinking operational piece. Rose’s bustling ideas continued to grow throughout his professional trajectory, until he found himself within an assignment as the New York City Department of Education’s Chief Executive For Human Capital. In this role, Rose was tasked with scouting, hiring, and training the most talented educators. However, faced with the ongoing systemic difficulties that rendered these educators unable to fully flourish, Rose recognized his need to propel a new solution. 

Along with Co-Founder Chris Rush, the duo created the blueprints for a personalized learning model set to transform the traditional classroom experience, initially called School Of One. Relying on simultaneous models of learning occurring within a structured setting, School Of One was supported very early on by New York City Chancellor Of Schools Joel Klein. Swiftly, the project received enough funding to operate as a summer pilot program in 2009. In this inaugural year, the program was dubbed one of TIME Magazine as one of the best inventions of the year, a huge victory for the transformative model of personalized learning.

Merely two years after the initial successes of the pilot program, Rose saw the tremendous growth opportunity available as a result of the promise showcased by School Of One. Thus, Rose developed New Classrooms, the parent non-profit organization that operated on a national level, and sought to expand upon the social emotional learning tools needed to modernize the traditional classroom experience. Building upon the framework set by School Of One, Rose renamed the bolstered platform as Teach To One, and immediately set forth to increase accessibility for all schools.

Introduced to schools across the country, Teach To One has allowed educators to maximize their lesson planning, and has allowed students to garner the benefits of personalized learning, making effective math education available to students at all initial comprehension levels. Teach To One effectively combines independent activity through student-specific bespoke computer lessons, social emotional learning through small group activities within groups of similarly placed students, and traditional instructor-led lessons conducted by educators, providing a comprehensive and wholesome approach to mathematical education. 

Championing students to maximize learning by presenting concepts in the most effective manners, and ensuring that rudimentary concepts are understood prior to moving forward with cumulative skills, Teach To One generates positive learning outcomes through bespoke lesson planning, intuitive data analysis, and unique scheduling to meet the needs of each student in real-time. This seamless marriage between technology, traditional education, and innovative personalized learning allows for maximizing classroom time to best suit each student.

As a dedicated educator, Joel Rose witnessed the systemic flaws within the traditional classroom model, and understood the nuanced difficulties facing educators, and students alike, in terms of effectively teaching cumulative subjects like math. Through innovation, forward-thinking motivation, and a commitment to the betterment of the educational system, Rose committed his professional trajectory to modernizing the traditional classroom setting. With his creation, Teach To One, already affecting countless students, his effect on the educational system will be undoubtedly profound.

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