Posts by Tom Vander Ark
Ed Policy
Smart Cities: 10 Opinions About What Matters
Tom complied a list of folks thinking about cities and innovation - half from education and half from business and technology.
EdTech
Houston High School Students Get Laptops Next Year
Houston superintendent Terry Grier pitched the idea of giving every high school student a laptop. Rollout begins with teachers in 10 schools getting laptops this summer.
Ed Policy
In Support of the Common Core
Common Core State Standards are thoughtful expressions of college- and career-ready expectations in reading, writing and math.
Ed Policy
NCLB: Under the Bus, But Not a Total Loss
Today AEI released a report, NCLB sanctions: Tests taken, lessons learned. The authors found that “School accountability systems in general, and NCLB in particular, had some beneficial systemic effect.” Some components of NCLB worked, some did not. Based on lessons learned the authors make recommendations for accountability 2.0.
Ed Policy
Common Core: A Platform for Equity & Innovation
The Common Core is giant platform for innovation for American education. The Common Core and the digital learning revolution are breaking down boundaries and improving the teaching profession. Most importantly, the Common Core is the promise of better education to the children of this country.
EdTech
Mythbusting: Q&A with K12 Leadership
Following up on the release of a candid academic report in February, Tom Vander Ark visited K12 Executives last week and shares a recap of their conversation.
Ed Policy
It’s Time for The Next Big Advance: Comparable Growth Measures
The most important next step in the shift to personal digital learning is the need for comparable growth measures for individual students. With the explosion of adaptive assessment and instruction and the widespread use of digital curriculum with embedded assessments, there is a growing need to be able to compare measures of student progress.
Leadership
CEOs Want Hard-Working Decision-Making Team Players
A survey of chief executives indicates that 92% say education is very or the most important national competitiveness issue. But the survey, conducted by the The Business Council and The Conference Board, isn't a flattering picture of U.S. education.
Ed Policy
Why We Need Common Standards and Better Tests
It’s testing season--and it’s easy to criticize state tests these days. However, those tests represent an important commitment to equity. The Common Core is a big step forward and so are the tests that come with it.
EdTech
Teaching Kids to Code: An Economic & Social Justice Issue
Hadi Partovi launches Code.org because he'd like to see all high schools offer computer science classes to prepare them for the growing cluster of job skills necessary today.