EdPolicy
Nation Earns a C in Education Week’s Annual Quality Counts
Education Week released today its annual Quality Counts 2012: The Global Challenge - Education in a Competitive World, which takes a critical look at states' performance in policy, standards, assessments, school accountability, and more in the United States education system among a competitive world. Quality Counts awarded the entire nation a C while Maryland leads with a B-plus, the highest score among all 50 states. This year, nearly half the states scored a C or lower.
Tom Vander Ark Receives the Royal Treatment On Digital Learning
Tom Vander Ark, founder and author of Getting Smart, conducted a podcast interview recently with Scholastic's Ken Royal on his blog The Royal Treatment. Vander Ark articulates the positive ways technology can transform the classroom to improve learning for all students.
Less Than Half Of the 2011 SAT-Taking Class Is Expected to Succeed In College
This week, the Hewlett Foundation launched a contest to boost assessments in critical thinking and problem solving. Yet, when we take a look at our current testing systems such as the SAT, America's biggest test determining a K-12 culmination of knowledge in math, reading, and writing, this year's 2011 graduates are expected to fall short.
iNACOL Hosts Webinar On Digital Learning Policy Updates
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) plans to host a webinar tomorrow, January 11, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. EST on "Next Steps for Digital Learning Now," which will focus on the continued work of the Digital Learning Council to implement state-level online learning policy changes.
Washington State Falls Behind In EdReform
The Seattle Times reported this week that the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature hasn't met constitutional obligations to pay for basic education in a lawsuit led by districts, educators, parents, and community groups against the state this week. Lawmakers, who convene this week, are expected to fully implement edreforms by 2018.
New Report States Online Learning Is Two-Thirds the Cost
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute released today "The Costs of Online Learning," a report by Parthenon Group that estimates fulltime virtual and blended schools cost considerably less per pupil than traditional brick-and-mortar public schools. While costs vary within many of the models, on average, fulltime virtual schools cost up to a third less per pupil than conventional schools.
How Intelligent Scoring Will Help Create an Intelligent System
The Hewlett Foundation is sponsoring a competition that will demonstrate that automated essay scoring is already pretty good—on most traits it is as good as expert human graders. This prize competition will make it better. The reason Hewlett is sponsoring the competition is that they want to promote deeper learning—mastery of core academic content, critical reasoning and problem solving, working collaboratively, communicating effectively and learning how to learn independently.
Q&A: The Educational World Is Flat
Tom Vander Ark is an educational innovator who thinks like an engineer. He is currently the CEO of Open Educational Solutions, a partner in Learn Capital, and director of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. Previously he served as President of the X PRIZE Foundation and was the Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is a prolific writer and speaker, and in 2006 Newsweek readers voted Tom the most influential baby boomer in education.
4 Characteristics of Education Programs That Actually Work
“Education” is a huge conversation, but almost all of the conversation is about the education problem. There is not a serious or mature conversation about solutions. Meanwhile lots of resources and, as important, attention, are going into an ever-changing, wide variety of programs which, it is hoped, will be part of some solution. How do we know when we’re looking at any given program, whether it can have game-changing impact on K-12 schools, or has no chance? I call the former, programs that “Actually Work.” Here I identify and describe four characteristics of any program that Actually Works: Scope,Results, Robustness, and Scalability. Failure at any one of these is failure to Work.
The Alliance Addresses New Digital Learning Imperatives In K12
This month, the former Governor Bob Wise's Alliance for Excellent Education (Alliance) released "The Digital Imperative: How Technology and Teaching Meet Today's Education Challenges," a report showcasing the ways technology can better prepare students for college and career as an update to its report nearly two years ago.