EdPolicy
Personalized Learning
Good Cop, Bad Cop in Charter Sector
1.    Good Cop. Following the lead of the CA Charter School Association , it’s a good sign that AZ charters are self policing . Should see more of this from TX Charter Schools now that David Dunn is there. 2.    Bad Cop.  The…
Personalized Learning
EduPoem: To Be of Use
Nancy Hoffman, Jobs for the Future was probably the first person to share this Marge Piercy poem with me.  I thought of it at Philanthropy Roundtable yesterday where I saw so many edu=entrepreneurs making a difference for kids. To Be of Use…
Personalized Learning
Roundtable Rock Stars; a lottery in Harlem
1. Philanthropy Roundtable members backs advocacy We don’t have many rock stars in education, but the few that exist were at 30 Rock, in Rainbow Room. Howard Fuller called for more minority charter developers. A powerful lunch panel including Joel Klein (NYC DOE), Geoffrey (HCZ), and…
Personalized Learning
Achievement gap amounts to permanent recession
McKinsey released an important study on the American achievement gap—a gap between American and other developed countries, a gap between races, a gap between income groups, and a gap between schools, districts and states. Low achievement levels amount to a permanent recession.  Friedman on…
Personalized Learning
Private Capital in Public Education-Feedback
1. Response from the Gadfly: But, of course, there’s a profound trade off. Vendors are not reformers. Consultants are not agitators. Advisors are not change agents. Okay, maybe they’re gradual change agents over the very long haul. In real political cycles, however (and in the…
Personalized Learning
Bloomberg & urban mayors should control schools
School districts are a strange American anachronism—no other country delivers public education through strong local authorities. This strange historical remnant is not crippling in all cases but has been proven to be completely ineffective in urban America. We are no longer able to elect and sustain effective urban…
EdTech
Read new AEI white paper on edu innovation
American Enterprise Institute suggests an entrepreneurial approach to most problems we face including education.  They recently published my white paper Private Capital & Public Education: Toward Quality at Scale.  …
Personalized Learning
Indian innovation capital flowing to edu
Times of India, drawing on “Private Equity Pulse-Education,” reports that 80% of private equity and venture capital firms see education as recession proof and plan investments in the next 6-8 months. Given more room for innovation in India, its likely that we’ll see new learning innovations taken…
Personalized Learning
Day in the life of online learner; limited social networks
1. Read Learning Without Limits for a good description of a 5th graders day in Florida Virtual School. 2. Despite all the teacher social network startups, the “National Online Survey of District Technology Directors Exploring District Use of Web 2.0 Technologies” …
Personalized Learning
Incentives for Equitable Education
The US Education Department (USED) will soon be writing checks totaling more than $100 billion (yes that’s a b) to states and districts. About 95% is just backfilling budget holes–a good thing given the precipitous and potentially disastrous drop in state and local revenues. Unfortunately, USED will be criticized because…