common core

EdTech

Kickboard: Big Data for Teachers

Kickboard is a New Orleans edtech startup that helps teachers collect and use data. Like the ASCD Whole Child Initiative, Kickboard is interested in a broad set of metrics that paint a picture of youth development and power an early warning system.

Ed Policy

PARCC Provides Advice on Access and Test Administration

The 22 state assessment consortia PARCC issued administrative guidelines this week and they included more advice about access. Previously, PARCC issued updates the design of both the assessments and released item prototypes. District and school administrators should pay attention to the The PARCC Assessment Administration Capacity Planning Tool.

EdTech

EdTech 10: Popes, Particles & Personalized Learning

This week’s global headlines included the appointment of new Pope (with #newpope knocking #sxsw from the top spot in trending tweets) and the confirmation of the Higgs Boson “God particle” (a pretty cool return on the $9B investment in the Large Hadron Collider). Were you too busy with…

Ed Policy

8 Implementation Challenges and Solutions

The Digital Learning Now! Smart Series is a group of collaborative papers that bring together top thinkers on the current trends in teaching and learning to explore the implementation challenges at the intersection of digital learning and the Common Core.

Ed Policy

Writing Across the Curriculum With The Literacy Design Collaborative

The Literacy Design Collaborative is a network of teachers and partners “building out a template-based approach to the literacy demands of college and the workplace, as defined by the Common Core State Standards.” The concept is to give teachers tools (mostly offline but soon to be online) that enable them to transform the Common Core into classroom action by giving teacher the literacy resources to build student’s college ready literacy skills through their existing content lens.

Ed Policy

States Report Challenges in Their Race to the Top

Last week, the Department of Education released reports for 12 Race to the Top grantees, detailing their progress (or lack thereof) on transforming education at the local level. The reports highlight the second-year work and accomplishments and challenges of implementing new information systems and the required tougher evaluation systems and related collective bargaining agreements.

Personalized Learning

A Digital Toolkit for the Common Core

The new Common Core State Standards, which are being phased in by school districts in most states, are designed to reflect the skills and knowledge that will be most critical to success beyond high school. The benchmarks focus on developing skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, and media and technology.

Personalized Learning

10,000 Teachers Collaborate on Common Core-Alignment Project

None of those old basal textbooks are aligned to the Common Core State Standards, but they all include great content. What to do? About 10,000 teachers on Edmodo have turned to the The Basal Alignment Project, an online library of revised replacement lessons from common basal reading series (3rd-5th grades) each carefully aligned to the Common Core State Standards (Edmodo Group code: etuyrm).

EdTech

EdTech 10: Blended Core

The Common Core has become quite the common discussion, right? It’s certainly nothing short of buzz topic of the New Year. We’re keeping pace with the discussion and news, which is rich with reports, commentary, analysis, and questions.