When it comes to education, students have lost a lot over the past few years. As schools reopened post-pandemic, learning loss, lost learning, and unfinished learning became significant challenges for K-12 teachers and students alike. To help address these learning challenges, the U.S. federal government set aside unprecedented amounts of Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) funds as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. With 20 percent earmarked for loss mitigation, the latest round of funding allows district leaders to enhance curriculum development with exciting new digital solutions. These tools have the power to positively transform the way school leaders implement both personalized learning and differentiated learning in the classroom to improve student outcomes.

When considering any educational mitigation strategy, it’s important to start with lessons learned. By far, the single biggest takeaway from remote and online learning environments is that targeted teaching of core concepts through personalized learning or differentiated instruction leads to greater student success. As a result, many K-12 districts are actively promoting a return to the classroom, whether virtual or face-to-face, with a laser-sharp focus on digital curriculum. They are doubling down on grade-level teaching, tutoring, and differentiation strategies to meet students where they are to motivate and engage them with learning while keeping core competency-based standards in mind.

QUICKLY IDENTIFY AND CLOSE LEARNING GAPS

Every day more districts are turning to Gale to maximize ARP-ESSER funds with proven K-12 digital resources that support customized learning and differentiated learning. Gale e-learning solutions deliver standards-aligned, engaging content, accommodating different learning modes to personalize instruction.

Gale’s personalized learning solutions, like Gale In Context and Gale eBooks, are flexible to address the needs of mixed-ability learners with different learning styles, whether they are in person or online. With these educational resources, you can:

  • Identify and close the gaps in instructional strategies and customized learning approaches with regularly updated, standards-aligned nonfiction content, including academic journals and primary sources.
  • Level the playing field for students, regardless of ability level, with easily accessible age- and skill-appropriate content that addresses multiple intelligences and provides five levels of complexity based on Lexile range.
  • Set your sights on differentiated learning and instruction with ed-tech, such as ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology with translations in over 40 languages.
  • Choose technology everyone can use, featuring navigation consistency and assistive technology, so students can spend less time figuring out how to access information and more time developing information literacy skills.
  • Create personalized study paths featuring cross-searchable, diverse, differentiated content, with highlights and notes promoting critical, innovative thinking.
  • Foster greater collaboration one-on-one or in small groups with integrated G Suite for Education and Microsoft 365 tools. Learning management system providers, like Canvas, Schoology, and Moodle, also make it simple to download, save, and share content.

GALE IN CONTEXT: FOR EDUCATORS

At Gale, we recognize that student success begins with teacher success. So we’ve created Gale In Context: For Educators, a powerful lesson-planning tool designed to help teachers provide K-12 students with equitable and customized learning opportunities. Building on the Gale In Context student databases, For Educators takes lesson planning to the next level by helping educators find and differentiate the best in digital learning content to plan activities that work well in personalized learning environments.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, teachers can expect quality, curriculum-aligned content, along with related lesson plans and instructional tools that support teaching collaboratively. With For Educators, teachers can collect, organize, customize, and share classroom instructional materials across any distance. Plus, they’ll have access to a Learning Center that offers suggestions for classroom activities and instructional approaches as well as coaching to foster successful virtual lesson planning, learning strategies, and online teaching skills aligned with national and state standards.

 

GALE IN CONTEXT FOR STUDENTS

Offering eye-catching, authoritative, media-rich content, Gale In Context student databases harness an enhanced user experience with familiar navigation and a modern design to teach students how they learn best. With articles, videos, charts, images, infographics, and more, students can read or watch at their own pace to get the facts. They’ll have access to a wide variety of content covering numerous core subject areas, including BiographyCanadaEnvironmental StudiesGlobal IssuesOpposing ViewpointsScienceU.S. History, and World History

There are built-in search functions to assist the unique needs of readers by Lexile range as well as on-demand text size adjustment, translation, and text-to-speech tools to meet the needs of the most diverse learners. And with G Suite for Education and Microsoft Office 365, it’s easier than ever for students to save, share, and download content from wherever they are.

 

GALE eBOOKS FOR K–12

A great companion to Gale In ContextGale eBooks for K-12 students and teachers offers digital nonfiction content in a familiar, user-friendly platform designed for students of every age and reading level and accessible from any mobile device.

This comprehensive resource is full of titles helpful to recovering unfinished learning as well as social and emotional learning. Gale eBooks delivers unlimited, on-demand access to students and educators without requiring special downloads or apps. Plus, detailed subject indexing allows users to intuitively search and differentiate content based on subject, title, document type, and more to meet their individual needs and learning preferences.

BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY IN PERSONALIZED LEARNING AND DIFFERENTIATED LEARNINGS

Every day, teachers are harnessing the power of Gale resources in curriculum development to differentiate and deliver engaging, age-appropriate lessons and learning activities with positive results.

“Having access to these authoritative databases is one of the first steps in improving student outcomes. It improves inquiry learning and personalized learning. Students are eager to do research because they can highlight information easily or have it read to them. They are better at critical thinking because they must decide which sources are best for the information they’re seeking.”
— Dr. Lynn Reynolds, Executive Director of Library Media Services, Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky

“Giving our teachers and students access to these eBooks has removed barriers for our students. When you go into Gale eBooks, you’re able to search by standards. You’re able to search by topics. The ability to differentiate instruction has transformed what is happening in our history-social science classes and is ensuring that all students have an entry point into their learning and their thinking.”
— Jenn Roush, Assistant Director of Instructional Materials and Libraries, Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, California

RESEARCH-BASED RESULTS

Partnering with Project Tomorrow®, Gale conducted a nationwide efficacy study on the use of Gale In Context cross-curricular databases to support academic achievement and skill development with some interesting results:

92% OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS believe that the use of technology in the classroom leads to greater student success.

91% OF MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS said Gale databases helped them with their assignments or research projects.

82% OF TEACHERS said their students developed a better understanding of the course content.

68% OF TEACHERS said their students developed critical-thinking skills as a result of Gale learning experiences.

MEET THE NEEDS OF ALL LEARNERS

Gale’s educational digital resources are specifically designed and continually optimized for personalized learning and differentiated learning. Gale databases empower teachers and the districts they serve with equitable access to leveled, standards-aligned content to help quickly identify and close any gaps in student achievement.

These easy-to-use platforms offer engaging content that can be seamlessly integrated into lessons, units, and student study paths, along with comprehensive tools accommodating multiple learning modes and personalized instruction. The platforms also help carve out learning pathways for students and teachers to make quality connections in the classroom.