ESEA
Personalized Learning
RttT: The Work Ahead
With only two winners (thanks for holding the bar high Arne), there are two different paths to resubmission: 1. Support. FL & LA clearly had the most aggressive plans but got dinged for lack of support. They need a little Barb O’Brien (Lt. Gov CO) style barnstorming to build…
Personalized Learning
Flat Lining Schools; Tinkering Won’t Work
This week the “The Nation’s Report Card” showed no progress. That’s really quite disturbing given aggressive federal policy (NCLB), a handful of cities like New York making real progress, states like Louisiana and Florida pushing hard, and national foundation efforts. It suggests that tinkering won’t come close to…
Personalized Learning
Fixing No Child Left Behind
The WSJ, published an editorial that both praises and is critical of the President’s Blueprint. I thought it was worth a full read: The Obama Administration wants to revise the No Child Left Behind education law, which is understandable because the law has flaws. But it’s too…
Personalized Learning
Most RttT Finalist Have Lame Online Plans
Most of 16 Race to the Top finalist have lame online learning plans–and this is the best of the bunch. iNACOL posted a useful review. FL is the best of a bad lot and they’re just coasting on Jeb’s leadership and still protect district enrollments by stopping the Internet at…
Personalized Learning
What Stuck? Key EdReformer Question
What Stuck? What faded? As an EdReformer, it’s interesting to think about the investment of time and money with a little hindsight. Seven years ago, Caprice Young chaired the LAUSD board. She went on to run the California charter association and is now CEO of KCDL, a leading…
Personalized Learning
RttT Changed the Landscape
Race to the Top has already changed the landscape–that and Obama and Duncan’s backbone. They’ve done what no Republican president has had the nerve to do–take on teacher effectiveness. Their willingness to incorporate tough language in RttT resulted in 40 states developing very aggressive plans to dramatically improve teacher effectiveness.
EdTech
Common Core, Day 2
It’s the dawn of a new era. America took a big step forward yesterday and you probably missed it. The nation’s governors and state school chiefs released Common Core State Standards to a decidedly mixed buzz—there is something for everyone to criticize. Before the carping, editing and adding reach a…
Personalized Learning
US over Spain, Turkey, Mexico in Edu-Squeaker
The NYTimes reports that “Among O.E.C.D. countries, only New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and Mexico now have lower high school completion rates than the U.S.,” Mr. Schleicher said. About 7 in 10 American students get a high school diploma. The…
Personalized Learning
RttT has Worked & Will Work (with a little backfilling)
Ruckus over at National Journal about RttT accountability. As typical, Ravitch against everything (with Kress begging her to stand for something), Hess skeptical of everything, and clearheaded Chad Wick encouraging folks to use RttT as an opportunity to rethink the system. Here’s my quick addition: RttT is already…
Personalized Learning
Airplane i3 Comments
The biggest change for the most people in i3 regs released about 12 hours ago is the requirement for a full app for Development Grants (25 pages with attachments instead of the 4-5 page short form). The second most important change is a tweak to the 20% match section…