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component:where.partnerships
The AYPF Oscars for Youth Development
American Youth Policy Forum recently released a report, How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond. The programs (below) “have been proven to help young people successfully complete high school and be prepared for success in postsecondary education and careers.” I’ve had the good fortune to…
Pearson Vision Impressive
Textbook publishers are catching a lot of grief these day, some of it deserved. But I met with a Pearson exec this morning and continue to be impressed by the leadership of this company (with whom I have a business relationship). Long before Obama landed on readiness, Pearson realigned…
Emerging Vision for Learning Platforms
There are a handful of conversations swirling around about next generation learning platforms that will combine adaptive/personalized content, assessment, learning communities, with aligned student, teacher, and school services. The ones that gain wide usage will combine open and proprietary content (e.g., basic and premium cable) with a open app platform…
Developments
Developments: Provost Academy launched a virtual high school in CO; Provost is an early example of 2nd gen content developed as learning objects A couple start-ups working around the big guys and developing high school elective content More evidence that charters work as outlined by James Merriman…
Blended Rumi
Coleman Barks, a poet in his own right, is the primary translator of Rumi’s 11th century Persian wisdom. In an interview with Bill Moyers, Barks said that he thought about this poem in relation to teaching, “it doesn’t really matter what the teacher talks about…what we remember were a few…
Fix or replace Dropout Factories
EdWeek ran a useful commentary by friends from JFF and Johns Hopkins that outlined the range of challenges faced by states in fixing the roughly 2,000 high schools with graduation rates below 60%. Like the authors, I appreciate Secretary Duncan’s laser focus on attacking chronic failure–something NCLB…
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…
PTO: could Preferred Teacher Org provide blended services?
For years, Ted Kolderie has been talking about teacher ownership. After writing the nation’s first charter law in MN in 1991, Ted helped teacher in Henderson set up a coop and apply for a charter. Ted thinks educations should have a variety of professional options like doctors, lawyers, and…
A new twist to parent involvement–the 'reset' button
“Parent involvement” in education often means “make your kid behave” and “donate to the PTA.” Parent involvement is taking on a serious new role in Los Angles. If more than half of the parents of students in struggling demand change, educational options improve—charter schools are opened in their neighborhood, their…
SIIA showcases edu-ventures
SIIA is holding their annual EdTech Summit today. Karen Billings kicked things off last night with a lighting round of presentations by education ventures–an interesting mixture of for-profit and non-profit organizations. The well attended session signals the growing interest from funders in education innovation and healthier market dynamics.