For Instructional Management See CMOs
Kalman R. Hettleman writes in EdWeek, “It’s the Classroom, Stupid.” She’s right, instructional management is a big deal and often poorly managed. Â Here’s her three reasons: First, predisposition. The personal temperament of educators and their professional culture of insularity predispose them to be weak managers.
Most RttT Finalist Have Lame Online Plans
Most of 16 Race to the Top finalist have lame online learning plans–and this is the best of the bunch.  iNACOL posted a useful review. FL is the best of a bad lot and they’re just coasting on Jeb’s leadership and still protect district enrollments by stopping the Internet at…
Elks, Immigrants, Imagination, Innovation
When I made my annual appearance at the Elks lodge to honor the top 40 students in my district, I was glad they didn’t make the superintendent try to pronounce the names–more than half were from immigrant families.  Most of the native born white kids were Mormon.  The ceremony was an…
Long Day, Long Year, More Learning
Checker Finn makes the case for a long school day and year in this WSJ piece. Â Here’s the problem statement: In the face of budget shortfalls, school districts in many parts of the United States today are moving toward four-day weeks. This is despite evidence that longer…
The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform
Over the last few years, fund manager and edu-eBlaster Whitney Tilson developed and refined the most compelling data-driven case for school reform, The Critical Need for Genuine School Reform. Warning: it’s about 170 pages plus appendices, but if you haven’t read it you really should.  At least take 15 minutes…
School Choice in Sweden
BBC‘s Liz MacKean offers great report on school choice in Sweden where “There are now more than 1,100 such schools in Sweden, funded by the state, but operated independently.” And “About 10% of all students of compulsory school age now attend the new schools, and in the upper secondary level…
Two Sisters Improve Reading Online
When I was superintendent in Federal Way, two of our best reading teachers happened to be sisters, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Â I had the good fortune to run into them on a flight this week. Â They’ve published two great books, The Daily 5 most recently, and run an…
Games Will Change Everything
Games (and other smart adaptive learning media) will be part the core instructional program for most kids in a few years because they are: Adaptive: continuous performance assessment identifies and targets a student’s instructional level and provides instant feedback–it’s personalized learning; Engaging: good games use creative media to teach key…
Why Isn’t Everybody Learning Online?
Pretty good free online K-12 learning options exist in most states, so why aren’t more students learning online? There are more than 2 million students learning online and that’s growing by more than 30% annually, but there are five significant barriers to more rapid adoption: Babysitting: Don’t underestimate the custodial…
Edu-Innovation, an Oxymoron?
In preparation for the New Schools Summit, following are a few thoughts for a great group. Acknowledging the difficulty of penetrating the complex decentralized maze of US public education, a New Schools regular asked a dinner gathering of notable reformers last week if education innovation was an oxymoron.