Posts by Tom Vander Ark
Personalized Learning
Smart Cities: Twin Cities is no Wobegon but on the Rise
A Literacy Specialist in the Eden Prairie School District said, “I am thinking about the thousands of iPads being handed out to kids right now in districts around the Twin Cities and I’m curious to see what we will be able to do with them and to what degree we will be able to differentiate for our students.”
Ed Policy
States Report Challenges in Their Race to the Top
Last week, the Department of Education released reports for 12 Race to the Top grantees, detailing their progress (or lack thereof) on transforming education at the local level. The reports highlight the second-year work and accomplishments and challenges of implementing new information systems and the required tougher evaluation systems and related collective bargaining agreements.
Ed Policy
US ED Reports on Grit, Tenacity & Perseverance
The U.S Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) posted a report for public comment: Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance: Critical Factors for Success in the 21st Century. The report examines factors that can promote students’ capacity to strive for and succeed at fulfilling long-term and higher-order goals and persist in the…
Personalized Learning
Navigator Schools: Blended Delivery, Engaging Classroom, High Performance
The garlic capital is home of the top scoring new elementary school in California--Gilroy Prep. Veteran educators James Dent and Sharon Waller opened the charter school two years ago after visiting all the best schools and “reverse engineering from site visits.”
Leadership
D.H. Lawrence: The Best of School
D.H. Lawrence learned first hand of the joys and frustrations of teaching in a school for boys. His poem The Best of School captures the thrill of watching puzzled looks turn into the satisfaction of learning. Lawrence reflects, “their thrills are mine.”
Personalized Learning
K12 Report Shows Growth, Calls for Better Measures
Thirteen years ago, when his daughter was six, Ron Packard was a dad searching the Internet for math lessons. He started what became the world’s largest online learning provider, a public company with annual revenues close to $1 billion serving 110,000 full time students in 33 states.
Personalized Learning
It’s Time to Separate Facilities From Operations
The way we build, manage and maintain public school buildings is inefficient and exacerbates some of the biggest challenge in public education. With the recent growth of the public charter school sector, the rise of tech-infused learning models, and the migration of student populations across options and geographies, it's time for us to rethink the relationship between learning programs and public facilities. It's time to decouple the delivery and the ownership of school buildings.
Personalized Learning
Identifying & Meeting Student Needs Is Getting Easier With lookred
After spending a day with Microsoft Innovative Schools and before visiting BETT, I toured Cornwallis Academy, a K-12 school outside of London and managed by the Future Schools Trust. The leadership team demonstrated lookred®, an information system key to their approach to "personalise" learning and "pastoral care."
Personalized Learning
Ministers Learn About Improvement at Scale
An Education Leaders Briefing concluded the World Education Forum in London this week. Greg Butler from Microsoft (who helped my district go 1:1 in 1996) moderated the session that I participated in with Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor at Pearson, and Microsoft education lead Anthony Salcito.
Personalized Learning
6 Vectors Advancing Personalized Learning
Personalized learning will significantly improve achievement levels, boosting completion rates in both K-12 and postsecondary education. That claim is based on six recent developments.