Archive
element:for-whom
Good Urban Schools: A Portfolio Approach
This paper, first written in 2004 with Jim Shelton, is one of the first descriptions of the portfolio approach to urban education.
Make Early College Available to All Students
National Journal takes up the subject of Early College High Schools today. Here’s my entry: Call it coincidence, but in one week in 2002 I had a bus ride with Cece Cunningham, a phone call from Bard President Leon Botstein and a discussion with Utah Gov. Leavitt that…
More on Merit Badges
Following upon this blog from a few weeks ago, I had another interesting chat about merit badge assessment systems with Bob Hughes, New Visions for Public Schools. I sat down and Bob spread a handful of old Boy Scout books on the table and I smiled knowing exactly where…
Skip a Year or Two of High School
Sports, socializing, and selective colleges are the primary reason for 4 years of high school. Most kids can and should spend less time in high school and more time in career programs or high education. Several reporters came to similar conclusions in the last few days. Walter Kirn, NYT Magazine, suggests…
Quality Counts Tidbits
I’ve been carrying EdWeek’s Quality Counts issue around with me for a month and finally used a two hour plane ride to read it cover to cover. I was reminded of the great work that David Driscoll (with lots of help from folks like Tom Payzant) did in…
3 Pivot Points to a Performance-Based Education System
In education, there’s a lot up in the air right now: standards, testing, employment practices, budgets, student technology, online learning, and federal policy. It’s conceivable that if we took advantage of the uncertainty, a few places could emerge with a better and cheaper education system. Here’s three pivot points that…
A Better Alternative
About two thirds of American students leave high school unprepared for college and careers; almost a third drop out and another third graduate unprepared to earn college credit. There are lots of reasons, but now that there’s agreement that students should graduate college/career ready, it’s clear that American high schools…
RttT Plans: Detailed, Compliant, Insufficient
I spent the last two days reading Race to the Top plans. Here’s a few observations: 1. The plans are comprehensive and detailed. They all slavishly follow the Department of Education scoring rubic. As I’ve repeatedly said, RttT is a great program, but this isn’t ‘loose on means’.
Developments in Delaware
While updating RttT handicapping I missed important developments in Delaware. It’s an important story for several reasons. It’s a story of strong political leadership. Delaware elected a smart and aggressive governor that will see this through with an empowered Secretary with direct line authority (equivalent of mayoral control at the…
Learning platforms to come
The next generation of transformative learning platforms will include personalized instruction, social learning, and related services. They will integrate the functionality of learning management, student information systems, and longitudinal data systems. They’ll take advantage of the explosion of data that will come along with assessment embedded in digital content (e.g., score…