Independent Study
is frequently proposed as an option for students who don't seem to fit into the regular classroom. As pointed out here, that is a decision that must be carefully evaluated.
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From: Changing Schools, Oct. 1995
Independent Study–The Misunderstood Option
Robert L. Fizzell
One of the most misunderstood options in the spectrum of educational alternatives is Independent Study. Often equated with “contract learning”, “individualized instruction”, “programmed learning” and other ill-defined concepts, it can be anything from a boring digression into busy work to an exciting experience in high quality education.
When properly conducted with appropriate students, Independent Study is a valuable component of a system of educational options. Serving students who are often left out of our current system, Independent Study can add significantly to an educational system’s overall success. While the students who come to it may not have done well in traditional instruction, its graduates are models of well educated life-long learners. To help others create successful programs, I would like to share what nearly twenty-five years of experience and research with Independent Study has taught us about who is the appropriate student and what is the proper conduct of such programs.
What is Independent Study
Let me first be clear as to what I mean by Independent Study and how it relates to some other terms and approaches. Independent Study means that the learner is studying independently, without direct supervision, through most of her work. Note that I say “studying”. That is, she is gathering information and seeking to comprehend and apply the information as well as simply learning it. Filling in worksheets, looking up and copying answers, turning in such work which may have been completed by others is not studying. In working independently, the learner is providing a substantial part of her own supervision and is locating information, making curriculum decisions and planning activities on her own. By comparison, a tutorial program would have the instructor exercising major control over the selection and presentation of the information. The Independent Study program typically provides the learner with a statement of desired outcomes, or might assist the learner in developing her own statement of outcomes, and then permits the learner to pursue these goals with a minimum of guidance. The program would be responsible for verifying that the outcomes were achieved if certification is to be awarded.
For example, Carrie wanted to study about various world religions. We discussed what sorts of understandings might be of interest to her and agreed on what I would accept for a credit. She then prceeded to read, discuss with friends and acquaintances and build a cognitive framework which comprehended the understandings we had agreed to. Evaluation consisted of her discussion of some concepts and questions and her comparison of how different religions dealt with these issues. On the other hand, to study Northwest History, she simply read a text and some other sources and wrote essays on a series of rather specific, factual questions to demonstrate understanding of the standard required curriculum.
Let us look briefly at problems with other related names for programs which should not be confused with Independent Study. Contract learning is an unfortunate term in that it masks and mixes a variety of ideas. First, every supervised learning experience is based on a contract – whether stated or not, so the presence of a contract is not a defining condition. Second, in many “contract learning” programs which I have observed the contract is often not well stated. Furthermore, the contract is often for completing a product, rather than for demonstrating learning. If the contract is for the student to achieve educational goals while working on his own, then it would be appropriate and clearer to call it Independent Study.
Individualized instruction is the goal of all educational options and is thus not descriptive of a particular program. Individualizing does not require one-to-one instruction or that a student work on her own. Rather, it simply means that the form of instruction is appropriate to the individual.
Finally, programmed instruction may be one form of Independent Study. If the learner is exercising a degree of control over the selection, timing and application of the programmed instruction, it would be Independent Study. The outcomes of programmed instruction are often more narrow than a full Independent Study program, however. When programmed instruction is directly supervised by a teacher it becomes a form of tutorial or direct instruction program.
Hopefully, this will clear up any misunderstandings about terminology so that we may move on to consider the nature of the program.
The Independent Student
(Throughout this article, I will use the feminine pronoun. First, this is due to the fact that the English language does not provide us with a pronoun of indeterminant gender. Also, however, it has been my consistent experience that girls outnumber boys in Independent Study by about 2:1. Many boys have been successful in Independent Study, however.)
It is important to emphasize that Independent Study is clearly not for all students. My experience and research indicates that perhaps about 1 to 2% of the students in a typical community will do well in Independent Study today. The Independent Study student must have two critical characteristics. First, she must want to study. As she will be her own supervisor much of the time, the motivation must be intrinsic. She must find a joy in learning, often holding personal goals which she recognizes as involving learning. Second, she must seek to be self directing and be capable of following through on plans. A person who says, “I never get anything done without a deadline.” is probably not a good candidate. The Schooling Style Inventory1 is an instrument which assesses traits such as these related to potential success in various learning environments.
In addition to these two traits, the independent learner must possess skills appropriate to the level of learning tasks she is expected to pursue. For high school students, this generally means reading, note taking, locating information and processing information. The work of Phil Schlemmer on training one to be an independent learner is relevant here2.
It should be clear that a person who fits this description might not be very comfortable in traditional group instruction. In fact, many independent learners have not done well in traditional school, and prior success there is not an appropriate criterion for selection into an Independent Study program. Some individuals cited as examples of “learning disabled” probably were in fact “instructionally disabled” by being independent learners in a dependent learning environment. Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein are frequently mentioned in this context.
Don’t let me give the impression from this discussion, however, that independent student equates with exceptional ability. It is a trait of personality, not ability. Some high ability students find traditional group instruction a comfortable and easy way to learn. My experience has been that I have had a cross section of ability. Many of my successful independent students were not of above average ability. They simply enjoyed learning and enjoyed directing themselves.
While these students represent a small portion of your community, they can provide you with a large dividend if you serve them. It should be clear from their description that they would often not be comfortable in traditional group instruction. They like to explore; they are focused on fulfilling their own interests; they are easily frustrated by time “wasted” on group needs. But, permitted to work on their own, they blossom. In one program which I operated, 93% went on to higher education. Overall, our graduates are quite successful persons. Many are business or professional people. They and their families can become strong supporters of innovative education. I stay in touch with many of my graduates, and they are thoughtful, productive citizens. They continue to learn and explore.
Program Components
Given this description of what we mean by an Independent Study program and of the type of student, it shold be clear that a successful program should have three fundamental components. First, we must have a means whereby we maximize the probablility of the proper students getting into the program. Second, given that even the most appropriate young people are less than fully capable of being completely self-instructing, we must have a system for monitoring and supporting them. Finally, we must have a system for validly evaluating the achievement of the students. Let me briefly describe what we have found over the years to be important aspects of solutions to these three issues.
Getting the right students requires a commitment of time and effort. The community must be informed about the program – school people, parents and students. They must understand what is expected and what it takes to be successful. This process often takes a couple of years. At first, it will be necessary to expect a high rate of students leaving due to the program not serving their needs. If you stick to your plan and hold to your expected outcomes, people will eventually come to know what you are about, and appropriate students will begin to seek you out. Often these are students and families who have experienced a great deal of frustration with the traditional program. They may have been skeptical of the Independent Study program at first due to fears that it would provide an inferior education. At times, these are students who have been homeschooled, and the Independent Study program can provide a link to this segment of the community.
In dealing with potential students, you must provide an extensive system of intake information. Both students and parents need to be involved in this. A clear description of the program and of the expected outcomes must be presented to them. Provide an opportunity to observe the program in action, to meet currently successful students and their parents. Have the candidates participate in a sample learning experience requiring a few days’ effort. We use the Schooling Style Inventory to advise students of the probability of their fitting in. We also provide them with descriptions of the characteristics of students who do fit in. In the end, we let students make the choice whether they wish to give it a try – as long as we have space. When space is short, students who show the greatest promise of success are admitted first and others are encouraged to look at other options, but may remain on our waiting list and will be given priority over later applicants.
Monitoring and Supporting
The basic structure of the program consists of weekly meetings of about one hour between the student and the supervisor. At these meetings, the student provdes the supervisor with a description of what she has done during the past week. The supervisor may conduct some assessment of level of mastery of the goals and may answer questions for the student and assist the student in understandings. The supervisor will also assist the student in making plans for further study. Finally, they will plan evaluations of the student’s achievement when learning experiences are being concluded. Students keep journals of their weekly activities to facilitate the conference and to help them monitor themselves.
The curriculum is based on a combination of the student’s interests and the required learnings for certification. If the certification system requires a counting of credits, learning experiences may be structured to meet some defined portion of a credit. In an outcome based program, they are structured towards achieving particular outcomes. For either form, a contract would specify what must be accomplished to receive a particular certification. To assist the student in planning, a timeline for completion is helpful. From an economic standpoint, it is reasonable to specify how much of the teacher’s time will be demanded.
The supervisor will often need to assist the student with particular skills required for studying and with understanding the nature of and reason for required outcomes. She will also find it necessary to occassionally encourage and remind students to keep them moving at a reasonable rate. We have all of the students come together once each week to share and support each other as an additional stimulus to continuing motivation.
Working closely with the parents is critical for the supervisor to maximize student achievement. We hold monthly open houses for parents and students and encourage parents to attend the weekly individual meetings with the student occasionally.
Often, Independent Study will provide opportunities for students to learn in the community. The supervisor will need to assist in finding such learning opportunities and will need to monitor them closely. She will need time to travel in the community as well as skills in working with business and social service persons. There is a fine line between maximizing the learning for the student and respecting the needs of the agency to address its own goals, and this requires very careful monitoring and tactful intervention.
Assessment
The supervisor of Independent Study experiences must be well trained in a variety of assessment techniques. Performance based assessment is frequently required. We find that assessment takes about one third of our time and may run as high as half of our time. Designing unique assessments for each student for each experience may seem like needless repetition. Often it would be convenient to simply have a standard test for each common outcome. However, such a procedure might lead to a significant shift in what is being measured. For example, an essay question designed to elicit problem solving becomes simply a test of memory if it is repeated.
Desired outcomes will include experiences as well as skills, products, knowledge and understandings. Experiences include such things as attending artistic performances and displays. In such cases, verification of attending (to pay attention, not just to be present) is all that is required. Participation in recreational and conditioning activities would be similar. For skills, assessment must include observation of the execution of the skill. That is, don’t tell me how to solve a problem (memory), but rather solve one. As noted above, the problem for such an assessment must be novel to the learner so as not to be simply assessing memory.
It will take some time and effort to build a quality assessment program. Because it is not perfect at the start should not be a deterrent. This is an on-going process which is never complete. We learn as we do it. However, careful attention to assessment is critical to the long-term success of your program.
Conclusions
Independent Study is probably the most thoroughly different option in comparison to our traditional view of schooling. As such, it is one that requires much thought, planning and staff development and is often not well executed. It requires careful attention to whom it will serve and to how it will serve them.
From the above discussion it should be clear that Independent Study is not a program for poorly motivated students who cannot or will not put in the time necessary for full participation in an educational program. This is probably not the program for the young person who has to, or prefers to hold a job. It is probably not the program for the person who has been excluded from school for disciplinary reasons. For these students, a variety of other options will serve better: tutoring; a small, supervised study program; part-time enrollment. For some it might be better to do something other than schooling for a while until education takes on a higher priority.
Staffing for Independent Study requires consideration of the program described herein. The person must be a generalist in curriculum, well versed in assessment, and skilled in interpersonal relations. A staffing ratio of about 20:1 or 25:1 is typically required, given the need for about 25 hours per week of individual meetings and at least another 10 hours per week for preparing and reviewing assessments. If you find that you are needing more than 1 to 2 hours per week with a student, that student probably should be in a different type of program – perhaps tutorial. Another possibility might be that the supervisor is simply talking too much – a situation I can relate to! Programs that are staffed at significantly more than 25 students per teacher are probably providing inadequate supervision and are usually not conducting valid assessment.
When Independent Study is done properly, it is a point of pride for its community and it produces students who are models of life-long learners. Since it serves students who are likely to be poorly served by traditional schooling, it can greatly increase the success level of a local school system and build a broader base of community support.
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Notes:
Bob Fizzell has designed and operated independent study programs for over 25 years at both the high school and college level. Over this period, he has consistently conducted intensive evaluation of the programs and of the characteristics of the students who succeed and who fail in such programs. He can be reached at: EduServe 1201 NW 109th St, Vancouver, WA 98685; email <eduserve@igc.org>
1. The Schooling Style Inventory (1978) is available from Eduserve, 1201 NW 109th St, Vancouver WA 98685.
2. Phil Schlemmer, Learning On Your Own, Center for Applied Research in Education, 1987
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