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Personalized Learning

Assessment All the Time? Why Not?

When talking with people who are not educators, I often think of Fannee Doollee, a character from the Zoom television series, which ran on PBS in the late seventies, who has a fascination with double letters. Fannee Doollee loves one thing but hates something very similar. For example, she loves swEEts but hates candy (notice the double EE in sweets). Similarly, in my conversation with parents and community leaders, I am always amazed at how they can advocate for one thing while mocking a possible solution.

Personalized Learning

ASAP Case Study: Prizes Can Focus & Accelerate Innovation

The case study, “Automated Student Assessment Prize Phase One and Phase Two: A Case Study to Promote Focused Innovation in Student Writing Assessment,” was released today. It takes a close look at the ways the two phases of The Automated Student Assessment Prize (ASAP) demonstrated current capabilities and mobilized global talent to accelerate innovation in writing assessment.

Personalized Learning

Ed.gov Advocates for New Approaches to Capturing Evidence

Expanding Evidence Approaches for Learning in a Digital World is a new report from the EdTech Office at the Department of Education. "The report discusses the promise of sophisticated digital learning systems for collecting and analyzing very large amounts of fine-grained data ("big data") as users interact with the systems," said Karen Cator, the outgoing EdTech Director. "It proposes that this data can be used by developers and researchers to improve these learning systems and strive to discover more about how people learn. It discusses the potential of developing more sophisticated ways of measuring what learners know and adaptive systems that can personalize learners' experiences."

Personalized Learning

Part 1: To Personalize Learning, First Personalize Teaching

The irony is hardly lost on anyone when at education-related professional conferences educators sit in the audience as experts lecture them about how to teach as a guide-on-the-side rather than a sage-on-the stage. A “do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do” moment that often has even the lecturer chuckling.

Personalized Learning

Blended Learning Philanthropy

What’s been on my mind: new learning models, role of philanthropy, practice and policy (including new accountability)… all student-centered.

Ed Policy

Answers For & Lessons From Critics of Competency-Based Learning

I'm trying to square two things that happened last week. The Nellie Mae Foundation issued a great report called Making Mastery Work: A Close Up View of Competency Education (MMW), a visit to 11 cool schools. The other event was a Facebook dialog with unschoolers that think competency-based schemes are more testing in a fancy package.