Dive Brief:

• An informal survey conducted by Edmentum at the annual International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference finds individualized learning to be the biggest challenge facing educators.
• A total of 587 attendees participated in the survey, which asked respondents to identify the top challenge from seven that were listed.
• Close to 38% considered individualized learning their No. 1 concern for, followed by 19% choosing intervention, 11% picking data analysis, and 10% for instructional assistance.

Dive Insight:

Rounding out the responses: college and career readiness (8%), school improvement (7.5%), and dropout prevention (6.5%). The two largest groups of educators at the conference in 2013 (figures for 2014 aren't yet available) were preK-12 teacher/faculty and technology coordinators/facilitators, making up a respective 29% and 18% of attendees. So, despite being an informal survey, Edmentum's numbers do provide some valuable insight into what's top-of-mind in schools and districts. Of course, the company also provides online learning solutions aimed at each of those seven categories, so it benefits just as much from the results as districts and schools might.