EdTech
JD Hoye Taking NAF to Next Level
Sandy Weill can be very persuasive.  About three years ago, a consultant enjoying a Bay Area lifestyle found the former Citi CEO’s pitch good enough to convince her to commute to New York City every week. Sandy formed National Academies Foundation in 1984 (when I was still working in…
Personalized Learning
Cristo Rey: Keeping Urban Catholic Education Vibrant
Out of financial desperation, Father Foley created a corporate sponsored work-study program at this Little Village Catholic high school on Chicago’s westside. Soon student work was helping to pay the bills. And then something surprising occurred to students, teachers, parents, and Father Foley—the work-studies were often the most important experience…
Personalized Learning
Making Data Matter
Interesting day at the EdWeek Leader’s Forum on Making Data Matter.  Dan Katzir, Broad, did a great job kicking off the event with lessons learned over 10 years.  Amiee Guidera did a great job outlining the Data Quality Campaign agenda. It was disappointing only 6% of the participants responded…
Personalized Learning
i3 Reviews
Had five conversations about i3 in the last 24 hours: Three focused on applicant eligibility. There is a very high bar for applicants. Read this section carefully. It requires a very strong track record of student achievement with a couple exceptions for nonprofits producing results leading to achievement. Don’t apply…
Personalized Learning
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…
Personalized Learning
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…
Personalized Learning
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…
Personalized Learning
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.
Personalized Learning
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.
EdTech
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”…