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Because online learning provides students with real-time feedback, students are better able to self-direct their learning. Students can choose to learn at a suitable pace, using a self-customized path, with instruction delivered at a self-selected time and place, all of which assist with maintaining high student motivation—a component of learning that is especially critical for older students. Live teachers provide the mentorship and support to help students develop their goals and reasons behind making these choices. Furthermore, teachers help the students prioritize and plan to succeed. Then, perhaps most critically, teachers provide students with accountability and encouragement as students inevitably struggle with learning how to use their agency to succeed. Reading Horizons software allows students to progress at their own pace and spend more time on the skills they need to develop. Because of this approach, students at a variety of different levels can use the curriculum to fill in gaps and learn the skills needed to become more independent readers. MODELS OF BLENDED LEARNING With increased awareness of blended learning and more widespread use by practitioners in the classroom, blended learning is still evolving and is being defined with great variation (Graham, 2012). Despite this variation of how blended learning is being defined, Horn and Staker (2015) explain the most common models of blended learning in their book Blended. These models of blended learning are described below with accompanying graphics and examples regarding how Reading Horizons is implemented in the context of each model to illustrate. (See Figure 1.) Rotation Model The rotation model is defined as a class, course, or subject in which students rotate from one learning modality to another, at least one of which being online learning. The rotation often consists of students either moving between online learning, small-group instruction, and paper-pencil work, or moving between whole-class instruction and online learning. Rotations have been employed in the classroom for many years; however, including an online learning component in the rotation is what makes this a blended learning approach. Within the rotation model are four specific types of rotation: Station rotation, lab rotation, flipped classroom, and individual rotation. 7

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