Harlem Success
Harlem Success Academy runs the best elementary schools I’ve visited with the most: reading; students in 4th grade read at least 25 leveled books per month. science: students get hands on science every day starting in Kindergarten well equipped classrooms: teachers use every square inch of floor and wall…
Book of Work
Had an encouraging conversation at College Board this morning about the potential for a new AP assessment system that would allow several testing times each year (eventually many times or anytime) and reduced reliance on the end of course assessment but considering a ‘book of work’ during the course taking…
Read Friedman on Start Ups
Please read Tom Friedman’s post on start ups.  Here’s the most important sentences: Good-paying jobs don’t come from bailouts. They come from start-ups. And where do start-ups come from? They come from smart, creative, inspired risk-takers. How do we get more of those? There are only two…
Step Function Improvement
As the learning revolution matures, it is likely to be turbocharged by lessons about the neuropsychology of learning and motivation.  I don’t think we know much about this and don’t use what we know very effectively, but we are likely to learn far more than we know in the coming decade.
The 3×5 Learning Revolution
Twenty years after technology began transforming every other sector, there is finally enough movement on a sufficient number of fronts—15 to be precise—that, despite resilience, everything will change.  New and better learning options are inevitable, but progress will be uneven by state/country and leadership dependent. The 5 Drivers.
Entrepreneur Thinking: What It Is, What It Ain't
My superintendent in the East Village apartment I rent would like me to believe that his solution for the cracks around the somewhat faulty plumbing in my bathroom ceiling and wall is entrepreneurial in its deployment and conceptualization. It most certainly is not. It is not Entrepreneur Thinking to “patch”…
Postcards from 2015
Here’s a couple snapshots of high school a few years from now using currently available tools and a few in development. Â These pictures are student-centric; there are obviously a number of teachers and learning professional involved in the success of each of these students. Â Comments, suggestions, alternatives welcome.
Rodel-Backed Plan Wins in DE
There were lots of people scratching their head about Delaware’s phase one Race to the Top win yesterday. Â It was not a last minute consultant generated application, it was the result of a decade of leadership from the Rodel Foundation–one guy that leveraged a small checkbook and a lot of…
The Book is an Artifact
Those of you in the education innovation space will know what I am talking about when I say that the era of the book has come and gone. The book is an artifact. It’s a holdover from an era where knowledge was plentiful (relatively) but access to knowledge was limited.
RttT: The Work Ahead
With only two winners (thanks for holding the bar high Arne), there are two different paths to resubmission: 1. Support. FL & LA clearly had the most aggressive plans but got dinged for lack of support. Â They need a little Barb O’Brien (Lt. Gov CO) style barnstorming to build…