In the fall of 2007, the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) conducted a national survey of high school reform and project based learning (PBL).
The study included teachers from several major high school reform networks that emphasize PBL as an instructional approach: New Tech High, High Tech High, Edvision Schools, and Envision Schools. It also included a variety of other small high school reform sites and comprehensive high schools that were not formally associated with a particular reform model. These were sites where BIE conducted professional development workshops or that purchased copies of BIE’s PBL Handbook.
The survey defined PBL as an approach to instruction that included extended student inquiry into a topic, some degree of student self-direction or choice, and presentation by students of their findings, results or conclusions. Previous reports from this study have shown how frequently PBL is associated with a variety of small school reform objectives including use of inquiry practices, personalization of instruction, community engagement, and student support for peer learning.
Read the Findings from Buck Institue for Education here.