smart cities
Smart Cities: Boston
Boston has been a leader in education for more than 400 years. Drawing from its existing network of universities, learning companies, innovation economy, and technical talent, there are more than 130 education technology and learning-oriented startups in the Boston area.
Smart Cities: Washington D.C.
A look inside the great things happening for learners in Washington D.C.
Local & State Policies That Boost Achievement & Innovation
Local and state policy makers should enact pro-growth, pro-achievement, pro-employability, and pro-innovation policies to help boost achievement and innovation.
Why Harbormasters Are Critical to a City’s Ecosystem
By: Kristoffer Haines. There is no greater lift a city will realize for its children than the moment its harbormaster sets out to be the gravity for the creation of high-quality options.
Collective Impact – Creating a Self-Sharpening Education System
By: George Tang. Over the last several years, collective impact has become common education vernacular and has generated as much buzz as Kimye. Ok, maybe not that much, but collective impact has become a household term for communities seeking to ensure children are effectively supported and seamlessly connected from early childhood to K-12 education to higher education to the workforce.
Why Public Schools Struggle to Innovate
By, Michael B. Horn. It’s not because they are public per se. Private schools struggle with certain kinds of innovation, too. Embracing new forms of blended learning or offering a lower-priced education have been difficult for independent schools, for example.
Cage-Busting for Smart Cities
Creating a great education system isn’t just a matter of practice, because rules, regulations, contracts, and cultures can stymie even the most committed educator. But it can’t just be a matter of policy, because what really matters is what educators do in schools—and policies can make people do things but they can’t make them do them well (see school turnarounds, teacher evaluation, et al.).
Moving Towards Next Generation Learning
We are, let’s face it, a Tower of Babel when it comes to defining what we’re all doing here. That sounds disparaging, but I don’t actually mean it that way. Re-imagining the desired outcomes and the common student experience of America’s public schools is a messy, chaotic business – and that’s what real change looks like.
Boise – An Emerging Ecosystem for Education Innovation
People in Boise don’t spend a lot of time talking about themselves or their accomplishments. They just get on with the work at hand, and in their free-time enjoy the state’s abundant natural beauty.
The Path to Systemic Innovation
The era of standards-based reform has brought significant progress to America over the last 25 years. Especially in states that pursued it with consistency - Massachusetts, Maryland and Texas, for example - the results are clear. The Common Core and its associated assessments might be seen as the culmination of that phase of US educational development.