Get Schooled Launches My College Dollars App & Challenge
While college education costs rise to new heights, the importance of obtaining a degree for future career success becomes more and more pertinent. Many students today from low- and middle-income families who need a college degree to succeed are unable to afford tuition costs. What's more, research shows that students do not receive enough guidance from counselors in high school to make education decisions around financial aid.
K12 Statement on the NYTimes Hit Piece
The New York Times article featuring K12 Inc. is unfair and one-sided, and advances an anti-parent choice policy agenda. Instead of presenting a factually accurate look at K12's online and blended learning products and education programs, the writer mostly editorializes, selectively picking and choosing some facts and omitting many others to satisfy a pre-determined narrative. The article omitted important information on the structure of online schools, student performance, teacher training and professional development, and the full scope of education programs and services provided by K12. It liberally quotes well-known critics but gives no room for leading voices supportive of technology-based education reforms.
10 Parents Respond to the New York Times’ Hit Piece
The New York Times ran a tabloid-style hit piece on K12, the online learning provider. They apparently didn’t speak to many parents that appreciate full time virtual schools as an option. Follow are excerpts of 10 notes I received from parents this week (responding to my blog) with a different story.
From the Source, the Potential of Personal Digital Learning
Earlier this month, the Pacific Research Institute released a video that showcased the power of personal digital learning and the challenges that the parents, students and educators face in realizing its full potential. The following video, directed by Nick Tucker and produced by Lur Films and Ozymandias Media, looks at the tools that are generating the tipping point in an educational technology revolution.
Infographic: Open Courses for All
At Getting Smart, we've been contemplating the power of open education resources (OER) or open courseware (OCW) in education for several months. While the cost of K-20 education creeps up to new heights, OERs are sweeping across classrooms. Teachers can provide quality, free content to students with effective use of personal digital learning tools.
Times Misses the Mark–Again
The New York Times is running a series attacking innovations in learning. Today's tirade blames K12, Inc. for public policy problems, portrays parent interest in choices as a sham, and relies on questionable sources. Here's five specific problems with today's attack piece.
What Would Iran Find if They Reverse-Engineered Our Schools?
The Iranians appear to have captured a US intelligence drone aircraft and now claim they have finished a data extraction and are now in the process of reverse-engineering its capabilities. What if they captured a school and tried to reverse engine our education system? For starters, if they did a data extraction, our kids would be safe because they wouldn't find much data on them.
Good Work: Love & Work
Erik Erikson recalled that Freud was once asked what he thought a normal person should be able to do well. The questioner probably expected a complicated, “deep” answer. But Freud simply said, “Lieben und arbeiten” (to love and to work). It pays to ponder on this simple formula; it grows deeper as you think about it.
Fareed’s Take: Education & Infrastructure Key to Growth
On his show and in his blog Fareed Zakaria argued that there is no evidence to the current Republican mantra about taxes and regulation stifling growth. He thinks the answer is pretty clear--we need to invest in infrastructure and improve educational outcomes.
Staff Pick: Getting Smart, Vocational Education
Karen picks the top 10 headlines from Getting Smart this November. Sarah picks a Q&A from Nancy Hoffman's recent book on vocational education around the world.