Dive Brief:

• Intrinsic Schools, a Chicago charter that opened in 2013, desperately wanted to think outside of the box through personalized learning, and the Charter School Growth Fund's Alex Hernandez writes for EdSurge that, despite the difficulties of re-inventing the wheel, the school seems to be "breaking the rules of innovation." 
• Intrinsic, which currently serves 400 students in grades 7-10 (86% low income, 75% Latino, and 14% special ed), operates in 60-person "pods" monitored by three instructors. Each pod operates in sections where students complete activities like small group discussions or independent work. 
• According to Hernandez, Intrinsic defaulted back to "traditional structures and approaches" in the beginning because its vision was too complex.

Dive Insight:

Something about this feels very similar to Detroit's Education Achievement Authority, which also desperately wanted to "innovate." One of its plans included placing 100 kindergartners in one large classroom called the "Kindergarten Hub."  The EAA advocated for this model because, it argued, it allowed the three teachers in the classroom to divide the students up by skill level—similar to Intrinsic—and reimagine what the classroom looks like. While critics of the "Kindergarten Hub" cited research about students, especially lower elementary students, doing better in smaller class sizes of about 20-24 kids, it would be interesting to find research on what sizes work best for older students. While they are definitely more capable of working independently, the question of how much instruction a student should be getting from an app does arise. What is the best balance?

In a Detroit Free Press article on the "Kindergarten Hub," an interesting trend emerged. More than one person interviewed said they would either not place their own children into such a situation or that it would not necessarily do well in other neighborhoods. This idea of education experimentation with some of the most vulnerable and marginalized students—those from largely minority backgrounds—can leave many feeling uncomfortable.