Posts by Tom Vander Ark
2020 Forecast: Implications
The KnowledgeWorks Future of Learning map points into the fog with the following identified implications: · Resilient School Communities: I’ll buy the need for better connections and more transparency · Amplified Educators and Learners: agreed—innovation will emerge from outside the formal…
2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning (1 of 2)
As soon as you finish reading this, go to www.FutureOfEd.org and check out the 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning, a recently released landscape map produced by KnowledgeWorks and the Institute of the Future. My friend Chad Wick flipped his foundation from a focus on…
Can economic development & social justice coexist?
A friend asked, “Can economic development and social justice be achieved simultaneously?” I think the answer is, “Yes, they always develop together but are often in conflict.” This is the central question of the American experiment. We each contemplate the opportunity-equity dialectic when we vote (e.g.,…
Good Cop, Bad Cop in Charter Sector
1. Good Cop. Following the lead of the CA Charter School Association , it’s a good sign that AZ charters are self policing . Should see more of this from TX Charter Schools now that David Dunn is there. 2. Bad Cop. The…
EduPoem: To Be of Use
Nancy Hoffman, Jobs for the Future was probably the first person to share this Marge Piercy poem with me. I thought of it at Philanthropy Roundtable yesterday where I saw so many edu=entrepreneurs making a difference for kids. To Be of Use…
Charter demand high but schools still under attack
NY Daily News reported on the Harlem Success lottery. Hard to read this without supporting charters: Ebony Griffin, 26, whose daughter Yolanda, 4, got a seat, said her prayers were answered. “I was sitting there like, ‘Please, please,’ and then her…
Roundtable Rock Stars; a lottery in Harlem
1. Philanthropy Roundtable members backs advocacy We don’t have many rock stars in education, but the few that exist were at 30 Rock, in Rainbow Room. Howard Fuller called for more minority charter developers. A powerful lunch panel including Joel Klein (NYC DOE), Geoffrey (HCZ), and…
Simply Kindness
I come from a line of people committed to service. Today we gathered to celebrate my grandmother’s 96 years of service. Her house smelled of bread and pine paneling. The first thing she’d do when you walked through the door was offer you weak coffee and banana…
Achievement gap amounts to permanent recession
McKinsey released an important study on the American achievement gap—a gap between American and other developed countries, a gap between races, a gap between income groups, and a gap between schools, districts and states. Low achievement levels amount to a permanent recession. Friedman on…
Private Capital in Public Education-Feedback
1. Response from the Gadfly: But, of course, there’s a profound trade off. Vendors are not reformers. Consultants are not agitators. Advisors are not change agents. Okay, maybe they’re gradual change agents over the very long haul. In real political cycles, however (and in the…