Posts by Tom Vander Ark
7 Things to Include in Your Innovation Conference
If I was hosting an innovation conference focused on secondary education, here's seven things I'd include: a design prize, interesting breakouts, virtual field trips, lessons from workforce development, cool components, and a design studio.
10 Resources On Teacher Effectiveness
Teachers effectiveness is a hot topic in education right now. That's why this week, we've create a list of 10 resources on teacher effectiveness.
Union policy shop wants to stop learning online
Funded by a center fronting for Midwest teacher unions, the National Education Policy Center (let’s just call it the NEA Policy Center) in Boulder recently published a hit piece on online learning. The unstated goal of the brief is to block the rapid growth of online learning, particularly schools supported by Connections and K12.
ETS Advice on Automated Scoring
ETS assessment scientist Randy Bennett recently released seven recommendations on automated scoring. Race to the Top funding of state assessment consortia triggered Dr. Bennett's paper.
Good Work: Challenging the Status Quo
During early morning coffee shop tutorials, Rudy Crew would carefully smooth a napkin and then draw a picture of how things should work. When I was a school superintendent, Dr. Crew was superintendent in the neighboring district. One of the first ways he encouraged me to challenge the…
Not My Parents High School
I spent the last two days in Chicago with principals and superintendents including Glenn Vos from Holland Christian Schools (HCS). While it includes the high school that my parents graduated from, this is not a Rip Van Winkle school system. Ted Sizer and the Coalition of…
Performance Contracting: Model for Governance, Provisioning & Accountability
I attend the National Association of Charter Sschool Authorizers Leadership Conference every year because I’m a disciple of Paul Hill. Almost 15 years ago, Paul got it about right in Reinventing Public Education: How Contracting Can Transform America’s Schools. Compared to the strange patchwork of local control, contracting…
Personal Digital Learning is Changing the World
Personal digital learning is providing three primary benefits, as outlined in my new book, Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World. The first benefit is customized learning. Learning online created the ability to vary rate, time, and location.
Open, Shared, and Collaborative
“EduCause is the annual Woodstock of higher education,” wrote James Marshall Crotty for Forbes. “With a particular emphasis on “the intelligent use of information technology” in the robust arena of online education.” Crotty quoted Don Kilburn of Pearson that: “The next…
Filling the College Prep Gap
Getting to college is complicated. The ‘what to do after high school’ decision is the most consequential decision of a young person’s life but it usually made with little data and inadequate preparation. Three startups are attempting to bridge the college prep gap. Kashi Tahir from Envictus made…