Posts by Tom Vander Ark
2020 Forecast: Last Word (3 of 3)
“You as a pupil will be placed in the centre. Personalised education means that the school and the teachers start from and adapt themselves to your goals, your ambitions and your potentials….The fundamental principle behind our method of learning is the conviction that all pupils are…
Good news, bad news
Good news 1. It’s great news that the Utah State Board approved a pilot of computer adaptive testing. Perhaps it’s another sign of the beginning of the end of the rampant misuse of 1950’s psychometrics. 2. High performing charter schools seem to have capture the attention of…
The end of the university as we know it
Read End of the University As We Know It , a great forward looking piece on higher ed by Mark C. Taylor, the chairman of the religion department at Columbia. Here’s a couple excerpts including recommendations: GRADUATE education is the Detroit of higher learning. Most graduate…
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…