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Paul Hill in EdWeek: Edtech innovation requires new school funding model
See Paul Hill's commentary on digital learning funding in EdWeek.
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Charter Schools
Don???t blame D.C.???s woes on school choice
DC schools have serious issues, but increased school choice is part of the solution, not the root of the problem.
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Business buy-in doesn???t sell out digital learning
?Selling Schools Out: the Scam of Virtual Education Reform.? The headline gracing the cover of the Nation?s December 5 edition does a pretty good job conveying the nuance and objectivity to be found in its expose of the digital learning landscape, a sprawling indictment of online schooling in general.
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The future of educational accountability, as envisioned by 11 leading states
Mike takes a look at what states are proposing in their ESEA waivers applications.
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The week in review: local control, teacher unions, & democracy
Who knew democracy could be such a sensitive subject? When Mike wondered whether union clout has corrupted the progressive ideals of school boards and local control on Monday, he touched off a flurry of posts in the ed reform blogosphere over the interplay of politics and education. Here?s a quick recap.
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What does the Digital Age mean for teachers?
Yesterday, the Fordham Institute released the latest papers in its Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning series, including Bryan and Emily Hassel?s ?Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction.? Digital learning is often portrayed as a threat to the teaching profession, swapping teachers for computers in order to cut budgets. The reality, the authors argue, will be both more complicated and rewarding for educators:
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Tom Vander Ark on "School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era"
The second paper released yesterday deals with the digital learning implications for school finance. Author Paul Hill leads the Center for Reinventing Public Education. His work over the last two decades has done more to shape my views about how to design delivery of public education than any other scholar. Like the Hassels? paper, the recommendations presented in School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era are well aligned with the recommendations of Digital Learning Now.
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The Race's slow pokes
The Chariots of Fire theme song echoed across the plains on Tuesday as states submitted their Race to the Top applications. But not everyone is drawn to the bait of federal dollars when it contains reform hooks.
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The truth about 21st century skills
Seems 21st century skills have become all the rage, but do they deserve the kudos? Common Core will take on this very topic on February 24, 2009 from 1:30 to 3:00 pm.
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Wanna mess with Hess?
It’s a once in a lifetime (or every three years) opportunity: work for the one-and-only Frederick M. Hess. He, of AEI education policy scholarship, is currently seeking a Research Assistant, who would support him in various organizational, writing, and other tasks. Think you can keep up with the man who writes 452,908 books a year?
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Wanted: Money whiz
Us: a think tank at the forefront of education reform. You: An energetic, organized, and creative person with strong investing and accounting skills, who welcomes the challenge of strategic budgeting for a complex, multi-million-dollar nonprofit.
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Wanted: Tutors for urban students
Recent college grads, are you looking for a hands-on opportunity to make a difference in urban education? Parents of unguided recent college grads, do you know a 22-year old who would benefit from doing something useful for others? And in Boston, no less?
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School Finance
School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era
Will the move toward virtual and “blended learning” schools in American education repeat the mistakes of the charter-school movement, or will it learn from them? The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, with the support of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, has commissioned five deep-thought papers that, together, address the thorniest policy issues surrounding digital learning. The goal is to boost the prospects for successful online learning (both substantively and politically) over the long run.
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Who has a problem with democracy?
I was intrigued to see the democracy defense offered by the Establishment Reactionary Dynamic Duo of Ravitch & Weingarten, as if to say it?s okay to sentence children to chronically failing and dangerous schools, as long as unions succeed in getting the vote out on off-peak election days.
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Bill Tucker's take on Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning
Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction and School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era, two new working papers in the Fordham Institute?s series on digital learning, are welcome additions to the often narrow debates around online learning.
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Tom Vander Ark on ???Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction???
Fordham released two important papers today as part of the Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning series. The first, Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction, is by the co-directors of Public Impact. Bryan and Emily Hassel are the Malcolm Gladwells of education?they point to profound truths hiding in plain sight. In short, this is the best current description of the implications of digital learning on learning professionals.
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Transforming teaching and school funding for the digital future
Today Fordham is releasing the latest installments in our Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning series, offering a glimpse at what the digital future may hold for teachers and school finance?and addressing potential pitfalls on the way to realizing that promise. In one paper, ?Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction,? Bryan and Emily Hassel argue that the growth of digital learning should greatly alter the roles and compensation of educators?although not necessarily at the expense of teachers?by ?unbundling? their responsibilities. In the other, ?School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era,? Paul T. Hill warns that the outdated way we fund schools threatens to cripple innovation in online education. Taken together, today?s publications present an appealing, 21st-century approach to education?a future threatened by our existing approaches to teaching and school funding. Be sure to check out Flypaper over the coming days as experts post their reactions to the release; for now, download and explore the papers yourself.
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Education News Nuggets
After much anticipation, Election Day is finally here—and we've got the photos to prove it. If you're in NYC, you can share your election day experience
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Rhee's political mind
Politico has a long-ish (for Politico, at least) story on Michelle Rhee. Before the electoral defeat of Rhee's former boss and Washington, D.C.'s former mayor, Adrian Fenty?a defeat that, the writers note, ?surprised?
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What the Feds should and shouldn't do
Just when academic excellence ?seemed to be making a comeback with our educators and policymakers we face the challenge of another wave of education tool and die makers whose products are confused with, er, knowledge.?
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What money can't buy: Facebook happiness in Newark?
Reading ?the New York Times update on the progress of the $100 million Mark ?Facebook?
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Steve Brill's Diane Ravitch moment
It's hard to tell whether Joe Nocera's op-ed essay in the New York Times last week, ?Teaching With The Enemy,? is wonderfully nuanced or just silly.?
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Solomon "Walcott" Grundy
Solomon ?Walcott? Grundy Appointed on Thursday Choir Singing, Ballroom dancing and Skydiving on Friday
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The information gap: Serious policy implications
I awoke this morning thinking about test scores ? New York State releases it's 4th- and 8th-grade reading and math scores tomorrow and our little district ? 50 percent poor, 30% black ? rarely hits the 50 proficient rate.?
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Today's Times: The good, the bad, and the outrageous
It's great to have Saturday morning education stories to mull, but the New York Times may be?pushing the envelope with this line-up.
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When and where will the buck stop?
The New York Times editorial page has been a fairly consistent supporter of education reform over the last ten years, including a courageous and early backing of No Child Left Behind.?
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Stop the anti-bullying bus; I want to get off.
In the hell of good intentions, the anti-bullying campaign has got to be on one of the lower rings. (The self-esteem movement is?pretty far down.)?
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The next frontier (abyss?): Testing and its kissin' cousin, cheating
Yesterday, at the end of a bang-up Education Writers Association conference on improving teaching quality, at the Carnegie Corporation?in New York City, I was approached by a newspaper education editor who asked whether I thought charter school test results were real.?