Archive
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The Blended Solution to the Root Canal
Education is going to become more expensive, so we need to invest in ways to bring more students into channels for success at greater speed and at lower costs. Online blended learning provides an answer.
Rick Hess: Fueling the Engine (Book Excerpt)
Rick Hess makes the case in his book excerpt, Fueling the Fire, that it's time for venture capital to start the greenfield education hotbeds of the United States.
Why Great Teachers Matter to Low Income Students
"Consider the recent national math scores of fourth- and eighth-graders, which show startling differences among results for low-income African American students in different cities. In Boston, Charlotte, New York and Houston, these fourth-graders scored 20 to 30 points higher than students in the same socioeconomic group in Detroit, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and the District of Columbia. Boston fourth-graders outscored those in Detroit by 33 points. Ten points approximates one year’s worth of learning on these national tests, which means that by fourth grade, poor African American children in Detroit are already three grades behind their peers in Boston."
Read Friedman on Start Ups
Please read Tom Friedman’s post on start ups. Here’s the most important sentences: Good-paying jobs don’t come from bailouts. They come from start-ups. And where do start-ups come from? They come from smart, creative, inspired risk-takers. How do we get more of those? There are only two…
RttT: The Work Ahead
With only two winners (thanks for holding the bar high Arne), there are two different paths to resubmission: 1. Support. FL & LA clearly had the most aggressive plans but got dinged for lack of support. They need a little Barb O’Brien (Lt. Gov CO) style barnstorming to build…
Most RttT Finalist Have Lame Online Plans
Most of 16 Race to the Top finalist have lame online learning plans–and this is the best of the bunch. iNACOL posted a useful review. FL is the best of a bad lot and they’re just coasting on Jeb’s leadership and still protect district enrollments by stopping the Internet at…
RttT has Worked & Will Work (with a little backfilling)
Ruckus over at National Journal about RttT accountability. As typical, Ravitch against everything (with Kress begging her to stand for something), Hess skeptical of everything, and clearheaded Chad Wick encouraging folks to use RttT as an opportunity to rethink the system. Here’s my quick addition: RttT is already…
A Financial Analyst Follows His Heart
School Administrator ran a great profile of John Welch, superintendent of the Highline School District, a complicated and diverse 5 city school district which surrounds SeaTac airport, near Seattle. John was a budget analyst in Tacoma, WA when I hired him as Finance Director, then CFO. John won a national…
T1 Should Support College/Career Goal
National Journal asks whether, as the president suggested, that Title 1 should be contingent upon state adoption of college/career ready standards. I think the answer is yes. Title 1 is an effort to promote equitable educational outcomes. The most important equity goal is that every student should graduate…
Skill, Funding & Teacher Gap Point to Online Learning
Read this great online learning report from AEE, federal policy warrior for high school success. Gov. Bob Wise makes the case that we can’t solve the skills gap, the funding gap, or the teacher gap without fulling incorporating online learning. (more on this to come)…