Posts by Tom Vander Ark
35 Blogs for Districts Planning for Personalization
This week the Department of Education released guidelines for the Race to the Top District Competition. As a result, hundreds of districts are contemplating personalized learning plans. Here are 35 recent and relevant Getting Smart blogs.
New Visions Builds On New School Success With Innovation Agenda
New Visions for Public Schools has probably been the most effective intermediary of the last decade. By launching 135 new secondary schools and helped to develop other intermediaries that developed hundreds more, they dramatically improved the quality of high school options in New York City. Thousands of students each year graduate from high school and go to college because New Visions created high schools.
Cornerstone Anchors Detroit’s Blended Future
Tom Willis isn't playing golf this summer. In a few weeks, Willis will open two new schools in Detroit, an elementary (opening K-4) and a high school (starting with ninth graders). CEO of the Cornerstone Charter Schools, Willis is a construction manager this month.
10 Things I’d Do Right Now as a High School Principal
At the Moorseville edtech conference (#Connection12 on Twitter) this week a Midwest high school principal serving about 700 students asked me for some advice on the shift to digital learning. Borrowing from advice to superintendents, here's 10 things I'd do right now as a high school principal.
Building the Digital Learning Superhighway
Next month there will be a lot of U.S. students holding an iPad looking at a spinning wheel. Cheaper devices, powerful apps, successful school models, and preparation for online assessments is boosting student access to technology. But in most places, the pipes won't be ready for all the traffic.
DIY: Finding a Co-Founder
I hadn't given much thought to the challenge of finding co-founders until Jessica Alter announced the education version of FounderDating, a partnership with Teach For America. We profiled the effort to match up interested and talented edupreneurs on Getting Smart last week and I called Jessica to learn more about what problem she was trying to solve.
Project RED Paves the Digital Learning Path
Tom Greaves is an edtech expert, especially school laptop programs. He has visiting more than 400 and surveyed about 1000. Project RED, housed at One to One Institute, is the first major study to considered two important issues: the impact of technology on student achievement and the financial impact of technology on budgets.
Good Work: Making Tough Decisions
Decisions define an organization. Before you fill an open position, step back and look at the decision. It is often a great opportunity to reconsider the structure, to ensure that the organization still meets the challenges at hand. Avoid budgeting processes that assume that everything should be allocated the same way that it was the year before. Spending money and hiring people are often important crossroads.
10 Strategies to Take Advantage of Productive Edtech Turbulence
Governor Bob Wise, Alliance for Excellent Education, opened the Moorsevilleedtech conference (#Connection12 on Twitter) this week by suggesting that, like a bumpy tailwind, we're experiencing productive turbulence including adoption of real college/career ready standards, waivers from federal requirements that come with new demands, and online assessment starting in 2014-2015. Add what's likely to be a decade of constrained budgets in most states and you have a leadership challenge.
It’s Not About the Machine, It’s About Heart
The Moorseville edtech conference (#Connection12 on Twitter) is an effort to share lessons from one of the best 1:1 programs in the country. This week, more than 400 teachers and administrators crammed the gym of Mooresville Intermediate School located about 20 miles north of Charlotte, North Carolina.