EdPolicy
Personalized Learning

Every State Should Run A Next-Gen Learning Challenge

Tom Vander Ark

Last month, I ran a three part series about the Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) outlining how they took on the turnaround challenge, leveraged higher education partnerships, and improved the performance and sustainability of school networks (as outlined in part one of this three-part series);  illustrated how blended learning supports and extends experiential…
Personalized Learning

Smart Cities: Twin Cities is no Wobegon but on the Rise

Tom Vander Ark

A Literacy Specialist in the Eden Prairie School District said, “I am thinking about the thousands of iPads being handed out to kids right now in districts around the Twin Cities and I’m curious to see what we will be able to do with them and to what degree we will be able to differentiate for our students.”
Ed Policy

States Report Challenges in Their Race to the Top

Tom Vander Ark

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.
Ed Policy

US ED Reports on Grit, Tenacity & Perseverance

Tom Vander Ark

The U.S Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) posted a report for public comment: Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance: Critical Factors for Success in the 21st Century. The report examines factors that can promote students’ capacity to strive for and succeed at fulfilling long-term and higher-order goals and persist in the…
Personalized Learning

K12 Report Shows Growth, Calls for Better Measures

Tom Vander Ark

Thirteen years ago, when his daughter was six, Ron Packard was a dad searching the Internet for math lessons. He started what became the world’s largest online learning provider, a public company with annual revenues close to $1 billion serving 110,000 full time students in 33 states.
Personalized Learning

It’s Time to Separate Facilities From Operations

Tom Vander Ark

The way we build, manage and maintain public school buildings is inefficient and exacerbates some of the biggest challenge in public education. With the recent growth of the public charter school sector, the rise of tech-infused learning models, and the migration of student populations across options and geographies, it's time for us to rethink the relationship between learning programs and public facilities. It's time to decouple the delivery and the ownership of school buildings.
Personalized Learning

What an Educator Learned From Home Schooling Parents

Guest Author

When I started my blog about the new research on parenting and education, one of the first topics that I wrote about was home schooling. I came across new findings about the explosion in parents opting out of both private and public education, the ways that parents are using new technology and virtual learning to teach their own children, and about other trends in home schooling, such as un-schooling.
Personalized Learning

New Ideas On What Colleges Want to See Out of Prospects

Guest Author

We all remember the students from our own graduating classes who did it all. Their GPAs were at the top of the class, or very near to it. They might have played two or three different sports, and served as captain in one or two of them. They were members of two or three clubs, with a leadership position in student government or National Honor Society. They were the ones who we viewed as “well rounded,” likely to get into a highly selective college.