Archive
component:for-whom.reports
The Flipped Classroom Turns Around an At-Risk, Failing School
As a principal of Clintondale High School, I’ve witnessed firsthand the struggles that a school must endure to educate at-risk students. Many of the students at Clintondale are faced with obstacles that hinder their education: 74 percent of our 570 students qualify for the free or reduced lunch program, 38 percent receive special education services and 70 percent are a racial minority. Like many schools around the country, our students were failing their classes. In fact, two years ago our failure rate was 61 percent in some cases.
Smarterer Just Got Smarter: 3 Enhancements
Smarterer today announced three new project enhancements that will improve learning for users, which continues a trajectory to support lifelong learning.
Competency-Based Progress
Susan Patrick, iNACOL (where I'm a director) and Chris Sturgis teamed up on a great new site, CompetencyWorks. While the shift to digital is key, and extending the reach of great teachers is important, the shift from age-cohorts to to a show-what-you-know system will prove to be the most profound--and challenging--educational change of our time. That's why the conversation and community on CompetencyWorks is so important.
Q&A: WriteToLearn Enriches Students’ Understanding of Writing
Seventh-grade English Language Arts teacher at Dean Rusk Middle School in Canton, Ga., Jeff Pence, shares how he blends WriteToLearn with other writing and Language Arts tools his classroom to teach writing evaluation, organization, conventions, sentence fluency, word choice, voice and more.
What Information Should Show Up Day One With Students?
Students went back to school last week (or will next week) but most did not arrive with any information. Teachers get to know a lot about their students but there is no systematic way to share that when students move from grade-to-grade or school-to-school. As a result, most teachers start from scratch, trying to unlock the student-learning puzzle.
Ed-Fi: Data Standard Gains Traction, Releases Version 1.1
Lori Fey directs policy initiatives including the sponsorship of the Ed-Fi data standard for the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The Ed-Fi solution is a universal educational data standard and tool suite (unifying data model, data exchange framework, application framework, and sample dashboard source code) that aligns with Common Education Data Standards. The Ed-Fi tool suite is designed to integrate information from a broad range of existing education data sources. It facilitates data comparisons and interoperability, and allows vendors to develop reusable products across multiple states.
Better Learning Online
Learning online is rapidly becoming part of every student's day whether it's a game on a smart phone, a workstation in a classroom, or an online course with a teacher at a distance. As full and part-time online learning becomes more ubiquitous, critics have become more vocal. Reports have criticized mixed results on traditional measures. State leaders press for effectiveness and efficiency.
Big Data: Like Sunshine For Parents
Does school performance data really matter to parents? And does it facilitate parent-driven school accountability? As GreatSchools CEO Bill Jackson put it during his testimony before Congress in late 2011, “School performance data is like sunshine for parents. Parents need data to make good decisions about their children’s education.”
Q&A: Visualize Learning Concepts
Conceptboard, a German-based technology company, hit the market in early 2011 and has caught the attention of high school educators and students in the U.S. Taking a few cues from the popular social media platform Pinterst, Conceptboard has harnessed the creation of visual boards for learning and productivity.
GSV Launches American Revolution 2.0
GSV Advisors released the white paper "American Revolution 2.0: How Education Innovation is Going to Revitalize America and Transform the U.S. Economy," which takes a close look at the climate of education and the latest trends on the horizon of innovation, this week.