Personalized Learning
Personalized learning is a mindset and approach to teaching that focuses on meeting each learner where they are and tailoring a curriculum that considers their interests, prior knowledge and skill level, and pace. Such a demand on the teacher requires sophisticated usage of technology in a combination of personalized, blended and online learning.
Duncan needs a big lever to close 5000 bad schools
Edu-curmudgeon Diane Ravitch wants to kill NCLB and go back to local control. Most folks working in education would agree with her EdWeek commentary—just throw out measurement and accountability, at least the federal mandates. Dr. Ravitch and I agree that the reauthorization of the Elementary…
NJ charters get great grad rates
Full post of press release from NJ Charter Assoc (since they don’t seem to have it posted on their site). This is great news for Newark in particular but for folks like Stig & DeShawn at the Newark Fund, Melanie Schulz at the leg, Heather Ngoma at Rutgers and…
Can ‘embracing geekness’ help improve schools?
A reporter asked me this today. The question of motivating American kids is an interesting and important one with limited associated research. A dissertation on this subject might be titled, “Removal of Psycho/Social Developmental Barriers of High Achievement” (that was actually a section in a charter application I…
Incentive peanut butter
I’m worried that Duncan (and George Miller) is facing increasing pressure to spread the $4.3B Incentive fund around like political peanut butter. The skeptical side of me worries that it will be used to procure health care votes. There’s not much of a constituency for real…
Teacher effectiveness debate: good schools attract good teachers
The ‘good teachers make all the difference’ research is now driving edu-investment. The theory goes: make good teachers, schools get better. I hold the opposite theory: good schools make good teachers. Or, more specifically, get the employment bargain and job right, and you’ll attract and retain…
What role should incentives play?
I spent the morning in a school improvement working group. When we came to the subject of incentives there were more questions than answers. I don’t think we know much about this, so here’s some moderately informed speculation 1. Pay for performance won’t work as well as business folks…
The need for edu-innovation
The US won’t spend or reform its way to high and equitable educational attainment. The basic model of age cohorts slogging through print-based content with ability tracking (with equates to race and income tracking) is obsolete, expensive and unjust. Young people in emerging and developing economies (which…
Teaching is love
After my first year in education, full of daunting challenges on a steep learning curve, it was finally summer vacation. Two days of hassled travel and we were finally on the beach with a good book. After walking one hundred yards on the warm white sand beach…
House Ed hears from charter experts
The House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, June 4 to examine how supporting outstanding charter schools can help build an innovative, world-class American school system that educates all students to high levels. President Obama has repeatedly called on states to lift restrictions that…
How not to invent the future
eSchool News featured a long piece on the AEI debrief on the rocky start of Philly School of the Future Long story short: some good ideas, sloppy execution. Microsoft provided useful assistance but ran into the disastrous revolving-door leadership common in urban districts. Lesson: running a good school is…