Posts by Tom Vander Ark
EdTech
DIY High
Here's a lunch napkin design for new competency-based high school where students create the job they want--they leave with a site, app, plan, and an LLC.
Leadership
Fortified Environments Turnaround Impacts of Poverty
Dr. Pamela Cantor, Turnaround CEO, believes it is becoming clear in research and practice that mindsets and self regulation “are both highly malleable and responsive to positive influences, including well designed classrooms, the most powerful of which include meaningful connections with adults.”
Ed Policy
Reform as a Platform for Innovation
Across a half a dozen states in the last week I've listened in on edreform chats with an eye on innovation. Embracing the world of digital opportunity will take new governance models, stronger state capacity and new relationships between districts and statewide providers.
Personalized Learning
Engaging Online Idaho School Gains Top Marks
Projects are not very common in online learning but at I-DEA they are the academic spine of the school. There is a mixture of individual and team-based projects.
Ed Policy
Utah Personalizes Learning With Portable Records
Robyn Bagley, Parents for Choice in Education, saw the paper and knew Utah's existing data system infrastructure gave them a big head start on a portable record. She talked to a champion of Ed Tech policy and personalized learning, Senator Jerry Stevenson who agreed to sponsor a bill.
Personalized Learning
4 High Schools That Use Projects to Promote Deeper Learning
Schools in the New Tech Network, Big Picture and Envisions network provide additional best practice examples of schools that incorporate relevant learning experiences often including work- and community-based learning.
Personalized Learning
Best Practices in Alternative & Competency-Based Learning
In short, Edvisions wants to change the school day to change the learning life. They transition from spoon feeding (traditional public education) to showing students they’re able to start feeding themselves with choice about their education based on their interest.
Leadership
Best Practices in Work-Based Learning
GPS is a respected applied high school alternative for students in 42 high schools in southern Wisconsin. Twelve teachers currently support 13 GPS classrooms, three more classrooms will be added next month. Growth has been steady as have been program enhancements.
Ed Policy
PARCC “On Time, On Task”
PARCC chiefs and staff held calls this week to update progress and, in the light of defections, to reassure partners. The message was “PARCC is on time, on task,” and 14 states and the District of Columbia have committed to field-testing the assessment in the spring of 2014.
Leadership
Blog Premise: What Getting Smart Means…
We started this blog five years ago and have posted more than 4,000 blogs. The underlying premise is that investment in great teaching and edupreneurship leads to innovation which holds the promise of excellence and equity at scale. We think social media can expand impact and increase serendipity.