future of learning
How new should a new school be?
During a recent AdvanceIE.org school design session, I was struck by the challenge of designing a high school right now. If it opens in 2010, what should it look like in 2014 when the first class graduates? Here’s just a couple of the new design questions: 1. Time to…
ADVANCE Innovative Education school design session
One of my favorite activities is spending time with smart people thinking about new schools. ADVANCE innovative Education, a provider of alternative certification programs in Louisiana, held a design session today with a great group. The assignment was to design a STEM school and a media arts school. Sponsors hope…
School of One: pilot project lives up to its name
Education changed on July 6 at PS131 when Joel Rose and an intrepid group of teachers opened a sixth grade summer school pilot program ambitiously called School of One. The NYTimes summarized it well today, but allow me a little hyperbolic extrapolation. Schools tell kids what…
Obama's Grad Initiative is Promising
This week President Obama called for the creation of the American Graduation Initiative, a $12 billion effort to encourage degree completion especially Associate degrees and certificates. America has slipped in high school and college completion rates to the middle of the OECD pack. David…
10 friends, clients, and portfolio companies that would make good philanthropic investments
1. Advance Innovative Education : alternative teacher and leader certification in Louisiana. Leader development is like NLNS but with entrepreneurship component with LSU B school. 2. Advance Path Academics : great drop-out prevention network. Districts could use small grants to promote adoption. AdvancePath retrofits…
Schools that foster innovation
In my first month as superintendent, Tacoma superintendent Rudy Crew told me to send my leadership team to Harvard to visit Tony Wagner. They came back and said, “there’s this guy who sounds like you, but we understand him.” For 15 years Tony has been a mentor and…
Freecomonics in Education
Free stuff on the web is changing everything. The new ways we communicate with each other and the resources available are amazing. Can you imagine life without Google Maps? However, it often makes MBAs (like me) scratch their head wondering, “who pays for this?” Following the release…
Jobs: east coast principals, west coast biz dev
Revolution portfolio companies adding positions: 1. Director of Market Development for edu-web 2.0 Bay Area start up Company Description: Founded by key talent from leading social networking, digital content, and education management organizations, this new Bay Area company is developing…
Better organized free stuff
It’s quite phenomenal how many edu-blogs, tweeters, sites, and networks are emerging. Just a few years ago we had to rely on our weekly fix from EdWeek and now our inboxes and twitter boxes are full of news and views—a storm of info. Perhaps next gen tools like…
Innovating or incrementing?
The NYTimes asks Can governments till the fields of innovation? The story profiles John Kao who recently launched The Institute for Large Scale Innovation (ILSI) founded to address three key questions: · How can innovation be fostered most effectively at a societal level (country,…