Smart Cities
This book and series was created from a two year investigation project launched to discover the civic formula required to dramatically boost learning outcomes and employability. For more visit our Smart Cities book page.
Personalized Learning
New York: An EdTech Hotspot, A Stalled District
Despite state barriers to online learning, young people in NYC are taking advantage of anywhere, anytime learning. The NYC Department of Education has been slow to improve student access to technology. The iZone was the largest blended learning initiative in the country but its future seems in question. Outside the district, the learning revolution continues.
Ed Policy
Why Public Schools Struggle to Innovate
By, Michael B. Horn. It’s not because they are public per se. Private schools struggle with certain kinds of innovation, too. Embracing new forms of blended learning or offering a lower-priced education have been difficult for independent schools, for example.
Ed Policy
Cage-Busting for Smart Cities
Creating a great education system isn’t just a matter of practice, because rules, regulations, contracts, and cultures can stymie even the most committed educator. But it can’t just be a matter of policy, because what really matters is what educators do in schools—and policies can make people do things but they can’t make them do them well (see school turnarounds, teacher evaluation, et al.).
Leadership
Moving Towards Next Generation Learning
We are, let’s face it, a Tower of Babel when it comes to defining what we’re all doing here. That sounds disparaging, but I don’t actually mean it that way. Re-imagining the desired outcomes and the common student experience of America’s public schools is a messy, chaotic business – and that’s what real change looks like.
Personalized Learning
Boise – An Emerging Ecosystem for Education Innovation
People in Boise don’t spend a lot of time talking about themselves or their accomplishments. They just get on with the work at hand, and in their free-time enjoy the state’s abundant natural beauty.
Personalized Learning
The Path to Systemic Innovation
The era of standards-based reform has brought significant progress to America over the last 25 years. Especially in states that pursued it with consistency - Massachusetts, Maryland and Texas, for example - the results are clear. The Common Core and its associated assessments might be seen as the culmination of that phase of US educational development.
Personalized Learning
Triumph of The City: Smart People, Small Firms, Connections to The World
“The successful cities of the 21 century are marked by three things, smart people, small firms and connections to the outside world,” said Ed Glaeser. “Smart people are able to use the density, to learn from one another and, of course, connections to the outside world are what cities are all about.”
EdTech
San Francisco: Powering the Global Learning Revolution
The Bay Area is the world’s leading innovation hub--and that includes learning. Ten years ago it was all about Silicon Valley, but recently Oakland emerged as an EdReform hotspot.
EdTech
Innovation Ecosystems: The Role of Impact Investing
There are a lot of interesting things to say about the Baltimore venture ecosystem. The Baltimore/Washington area contains a shockingly high percentage of the most successful education businesses, including Laureate Education, American Public Education Inc., Blackboard, and 2U.
EdTech
Silicon Valley: Global Innovation Engine
The 20-mile stretch from Stanford University to San Jose, Calif. produces more innovation than any place on the planet. As Richard Florida noted, the unique confluence of a great R1 University, venture investors, tech talent, and great quality of life make it a creative hotspot.