Posts by Tom Vander Ark

Personalized Learning

A Letter to Principals About Levers

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 29, 2011

Principals have seven historical improvement levers: culture, goals, instruction, materials, hiring, parents, and partners. Blended learning is an emerging lever that creates new degrees of freedom

Personalized Learning

Blended Restarts: Everything is Different Now

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 28, 2011

School improvement will remain a challenge, but selectively incorporating online learning into improvement plans can make it easier to staff a struggling school and a strategy for ensuring consistent quality of teaching and learning.

Personalized Learning

Charter Schools Model the Future

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 27, 2011

Charter schools are useful models of performance contracting, nonprofit school governance, and soon many will feature well designed blended learning programs.

Personalized Learning

Good Work: Conferences

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 26, 2011

This week I’m skipping ISTE and going to Hawaii to read, write and think with a few less of those ‘prefigurations’ that worried Thomas Moore.

Personalized Learning

Moving from Inputs to Outputs to Outcomes

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 25, 2011

A new Innosight Institute report, Moving from Inputs to Outputs to Outcomes: The Future of Education Policy, is worth a read and a board study session.

Personalized Learning

Preserving Access to an Uncommon Curriculum

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 23, 2011

For deeper learning and dramatic improvement in college readiness, we need super systems rather than super tests: correlated components rather than common exams, and annual versions that evolve with capability.

EdTech

Fix the Root Problem: School Governance

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 23, 2011

In a Hoover piece, Checker Finn makes the case that we've got school governance all wrong in America. He makes the case for autonomous schools and networks with perpetual leadership

Personalized Learning

The Shift to Digital will Challenge States

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 23, 2011

It's time for states to build an integrated plan for the shift to personal digital learning starting with online testing. Online testing will produce better, cheaper, faster performance feedback for students, teachers, and system heads

Personalized Learning

We need an ESEA and a congress that works

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 22, 2011

Obama had a remarkable first 100 days. Race to the Top was an ingenious addition to the stimulus plan. But, as Tom Friedman argues, we need more than a 100 day burst.

Personalized Learning

Digital Learning Now for Charters

Tom Vander Ark

Jun 21, 2011

With less funding than traditional schools, charters have more incentive to find solutions that can boost achievement and reduce operating costs.

	Beginning	Piloting	Implementing
From Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery	BeginningFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Beginning	PilotingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Piloting	ImplementingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Implementing
From One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning	BeginningFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Implementing
From Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry	BeginningFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Beginning	PilotingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Piloting	ImplementingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Implementing
From Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning	BeginningFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Implementing
From Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities	BeginningFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Beginning	PilotingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Piloting	ImplementingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Implementing
From Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment	BeginningFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Beginning	PilotingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Piloting	ImplementingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Implementing
From Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets	BeginningFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Beginning	PilotingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Piloting	ImplementingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Implementing

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Posts by Tom Vander Ark