Personalized Learning
What Stuck? Key EdReformer Question
What Stuck? What faded? As an EdReformer, it’s interesting to think about the investment of time and money with a little hindsight. Seven years ago, Caprice Young chaired the LAUSD board. She went on to run the California charter association and is now CEO of KCDL, a leading…
Personalized Learning
RttT Changed the Landscape
Race to the Top has already changed the landscape–that and Obama and Duncan’s backbone. They’ve done what no Republican president has had the nerve to do–take on teacher effectiveness. Their willingness to incorporate tough language in RttT resulted in 40 states developing very aggressive plans to dramatically improve teacher effectiveness.
EdTech
Common Core, Day 2
It’s the dawn of a new era. America took a big step forward yesterday and you probably missed it. The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released Common Core State Standards to a decidedly mixed buzz—there is something for everyone to criticize. Before the carping, editing and adding reach a…
Personalized Learning
US over Spain, Turkey, Mexico in Edu-Squeaker
The NYTimes reports that “Among O.E.C.D. countries, only New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and Mexico now have lower high school completion rates than the U.S.,” Mr. Schleicher said. About 7 in 10 American students get a high school diploma. The…
Personalized Learning
RttT has Worked & Will Work (with a little backfilling)
Ruckus over at National Journal about RttT accountability. As typical, Ravitch against everything (with Kress begging her to stand for something), Hess skeptical of everything, and clearheaded Chad Wick encouraging folks to use RttT as an opportunity to rethink the system. Here’s my quick addition: RttT is already…
Personalized Learning
More on Merit Badges
Following upon this blog from a few weeks ago, I had another interesting chat about merit badge assessment systems with Bob Hughes, New Visions for Public Schools. I sat down and Bob spread a handful of old Boy Scout books on the table and I smiled knowing exactly where…
Personalized Learning
Airplane i3 Comments
The biggest change for the most people in i3 regs released about 12 hours ago is the requirement for a full app for Development Grants (25 pages with attachments instead of the 4-5 page short form). The second most important change is a tweak to the 20% match section…
EdTech
NCLB a Rousing Failure, and McKinsey Offers Context
"McKinsey & Company found, for example, that if the gap between low-income students and the rest had been narrowed, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 would have been $400 billion to $670 billion higher, or 3 to 5 percent of GDP."
Personalized Learning
Obama on Dropout Prevention (not ESEA)
President Obama addressed the dropout crisis this week. He outlined federal efforts to support turnaround efforts and mentioned the Central Falls effort as an example, “As my Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, says, our kids get only one chance at an education, and we need to get it right.”…
Personalized Learning
Carl Dorvil: A Great American Story
Carl Dorvil started Group Excellence in his SMU dorm room. The son of Haitian immigrants, Carl never took his education for granted. He was the first African American president of his high school and balanced four jobs while completing a triple major and starting a business as an undergraduate.