Archive: 2012
Personalized Learning
Common Core: Blended Learning Solves Math
The two Common Core assessment consortia, Smarter Balanced and PARCC, have both recently released material giving us an insight into the upcoming Common Core math tests.
EdTech
Should Your School Replace Textbooks With Ereaders?
This February, President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan challenged the nation to transition to digital textbooks in the next five years. Only a month prior, Apple announced the ever so controversial iBooks 2 for iPad, which partnered the biggest leaders in publishing, put textbook writing in the hands of many, and drove down the cost of classroom reading (with the exception of the cost of the iPad). As the shift to digital picks up momentum, administrators and educators have rushed to adopt 1:1 programs with iPads, Chromebooks, and netbooks. Yet, what about ereaders?
Leadership
Good Work: Get Involved
If there is only one work, the great work of the universe going on, then, the universe itself is sacrament; it is a sacred place, and it is bestowing graces on us. Our work, if it is tapping into the great work, is tapping into this bestowal of grace. Therefore…
Personalized Learning
Something In Common: The Common Core Standards
Robert Rothman wrote the first definitive book on new national standards last year:Something in Common: The Common Core Standards and the Next Chapter in American Education. It provides a history of what, with new online assessments, will prove to frame the next decade of American education.
EdTech
Staff Picks: RTT-D, Digital Tools
Tom Picks “RTT-District: Scaling Personalizing Innovations“ Tom says, “The $383 million school district federal grant program will help two dozen US districts make the shift to personal digital learning.” Karen Picks “20 Schools Innovating With Digital Tools” Karen says, “It is good to see the…
Ed Policy
RTT-District: Scaling Personalizing Innovations
Last week the Department issued the final guidance on Race to the Top District(RTT-D) competition. It's a big opportunity to improvement for underserved kids.
EdTech
Learning Untethered: Conclusions From a 5th Grade Tablet Pilot
Learning Untethered is a “collaborative exploration” that introduced 7 inch Samsung Galaxy tablets running Android 2.2, a mobile data plan, and using Internet filtering from Kajeet into an Oregon fifth grade classroom. The report made important observations about writing and mobile device management.
Personalized Learning
Big Data: Like Sunshine For Parents
Does school performance data really matter to parents? And does it facilitate parent-driven school accountability? As GreatSchools CEO Bill Jackson put it during his testimony before Congress in late 2011, “School performance data is like sunshine for parents. Parents need data to make good decisions about their children’s education.”
EdTech
SMARTtech Roundup: Blended Learning, STEM & Apps
Blended Schools & Tools RTT-D pushes for personalized learning. RttT-D kicked off the $400 million competition for increased personalized learning. CRPE says portfolio schools have the advantage. Tom comments, adds a list of 10 questions for districts, and contributes a list of 35 blogs lends help…
Ed Policy
Poverty: High on the Edu Agenda, Not a Campaign Issue
Frank McCaughey is a teacher in the Bronx where 80 percent of the students in his school live in or near poverty. Frank posted a blog today, “The Biggest Challenge I Face in my Classroom,” where he urged policy makers to take on “the devastation that extreme poverty…