Posts by Tom Vander Ark
Taking Stock, Moving Forward
Jiji from ST Math It seems odd that after a NYTimes event called Schools for Tomorrow, they’d put another pandering Richtel potshot A1 above the fold on Sunday. It follows a week of bad news about online learning from Colorado but Sarah suggests you Take Another Look…
Good Work: Build a Tractor
“We can make a commitment from where we stand right now. It requires nothing other than our willingness to make a difference in whatever way feels right for us. -Michael Toms My Grandmother gave me a picture of her father plowing his field with a team of two horses. …
Good Assessment Key to Strong Accountability
Some #EdReform, #EdEquality, and #EdPolicy colleagues thought my blog Assessment Will Advance When it Moves Into the Background suggested that I didn’t support the idea of summative assessments and their associated use in school accountability systems. This section may have begged the question: We’ll need to invent our way out of…
Pocket Tales Wins Global Education Challenge
Houghton Mifflin announced the winners of the Global Education Challenge last night in Washington DC. I kicked off the event with a quick recap of the promise of personal digital learning: customization, motivation, and equalization (as outlined in Getting Smart, available online this week). It just so…
Customization is to Fracking as Persistence is to Horizontal Drilling
Innovation changes our assumptions. It makes possible what was previously impossible. It changes the math in our mental models.
From Place to Service
The shift from print-based learning to digital learning is a big deal, but more fundamental is the shift from institution-centric education to student-centered learning. Rich Halverson spoke about Rethinking Education at SREB last month. Below is a list adapted from Rich’s book about the10 shifts that…
States Need to Plan the Shift & Close the Divide
Bob Wise, DLNCo-Chair Over the last ten weeks this blog and video series has featured the Digital Learning Now state policy framework. Co-chair Gov. Bob Wise explains in the final video the importance of infrastructure to deliver on the promise of digital learning. Element #10…
Good Work: Developing Community Leaders
Advancing Leadership Youth From age 8 to 18 my parents dragged me along on weekly community service trips, first in DC and then the barrios of west Denver. I hated it. I’m pretty sure the routine was both service for them and training for me. A decade…
Good Evaluation Requires Good Data—And Sound Judgment
The superintendents and school district human resource officers I spoke this week said they are struggling with the political and technical aspects of linking student achievement data to teacher evaluation. The policy analysts and labor economists that discussed incorporating data into teacher evaluation at PIE-Net this week admitted…
10 Things States Should Do Now
The 2012 election season is in full swing. I listened to a great gubernatorial campaign speech this week suggesting that jobs and education were the priorities—and I couldn’t agree more. I spent a day with Policy Innovators in Education (PIE-Net), a great network of state policy groups. The…