Archive
element:where
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…
Edu-innovation requires investment and incentives
On Monday I attended an education technology conference—a few hundred people reviewing very simple education tools. On Wednesday I attended a military learning technology conference (I/ITSEC)—16,000 people experiencing sophisticated and realistic simulations of flying a fighter, piloting a battleship, and patrolling a village. US education and defense budgets are…
Brighter Choices in Albany
Spent an amazing day touring Brighter Choice schools in Albany–the best example of high charter market share and high quality. Brighter Choice serves about 25% of Albany public school students and that will grow to more than 40% as approved schools achieve full enrollment. Of particular note: Most of…
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.
In defense of the good school promise
While channel surfing on Thanksgiving morning, I found a school board association meeting where a famous prof was railing on standards and testing with lots of applause from the audience (in a state contemplating delaying college-ready math and science standards until 2015). I agreed with many of his assertions like…
10 biggest K-12 developments of 2010
Despite lagging state budgets, 2010 will be a year of great progress in American education. Here’s the 10 biggest developments of the year ahead: Race to the Top awards will be made in two phases to about 18 states and will set the standard for excellence in state policy. About…
The big switch to digital is on
Texas announced a massive English adoption of Pearson products–both print and digital. Pearson has been making a huge investment in curriculum development by making new Scott Foresman and Prentice Hall material available in both print and digital formats. It’s a big switch from the old days (like a year…
RTI = personalized learning
The National Center on RTI defines the new buzzword as follows: Response to intervention integrates assessment and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based…
iNACOL advancing online learning
The Virtual School Symposium, hosted by iNACOL, is Mon-Tues in Austin. I joined the board because 1) we’re within reach of being able to offer quality learning to every student in American and iNACOL will take us over the finish line. Hold out states like NY that don’t…
The blended world
Our kids already live in a blended world. K-12 is starting to catch up with a variety of models that combine the best of online learning and onsite support. Here’s 5 trends signaling a blended singularity: Schools become blended. The biggest growth area for online learning is traditional…