David Coleman, lead author of the Common Core English standards, will lead the College Board beginning in October.  David told the Times, “The College Board is not just about measuring and testing, but designing high-quality curriculum.”  That’s something Coleman knows well.  Before launching Student Achievement Partners, Coleman developed Grow Network, a reporting system which interpreted results of state standardized tests for parents and teachers, which he sold to McGraw-Hill.  Coleman is a brilliant scholar, a passionate advocate, and an inspired choice for the important role. Gaston Caperton has led the College Board through steady growth for a decade. College Board is an unwieldy membership organization, but Gaston has encouraged the place to be more entrepreneurial while holding fast to it’s commitment to equity and access. Speaking of talented former West Virginia governors, Bob Wise and I spoke at a KnowledgeWorks Foundation dinner tonight in honor of retired president Chad Wick.  The dinner was held in the spectacular National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Funded 12 years ago by the sale of a student loan portfolio (like Lumina)... more

State budgets have been hurting in a bad way. Across the country, legislatures continue to struggle to close deficits while still providing essential services. While cuts have been necessary, the wrong cuts can be devastating and ironically, very costly. On the chopping block time and again has been online learning. This is due to the fact that, financially speaking, there’s a common misunderstanding about how online learning fits into public education. Unfortunately, it is viewed as an extra program, something schools and taxpayers pay more to offer. In reality, online and blended schools are simply alternative methods of delivering a public education. But because of this misunderstanding, legislators continue to go to online learning when making cuts. So why is online learning a costly cut? There are three unique costs when budget cuts force an online program to close. First, cutting funding to online programs can actually cost taxpayers more money. When reduced funding forces an online program to close its doors, it’s likely the majority of students will return to traditional public schools. Each... more

Philip K. Howard is a lawyer, author and chair of Common Good. He is the author, most recently, of Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America. In a recent Atlantic piece, Howard pitched a five part bureaucracy busting platform: #1 No Child Left Behind should refocus on transparency of student achievement by uniform standards that require a common test across all states and evaluate the progress of individual students, not just schools. That’s the half of the idea behind Common Core standards.  The other half is real college/career ready standards. This data can inform educators, families, and the community, and provide the tools to track the development of each students.This data can inform both educators and the community. Punitive sanctions that drive educators to “teach to the test” have proved counterproductive and should be discarded. #2 There should be mutual disarmament of bureaucratic requirements by both school administrators and unions. Detailed rules should be replaced by general goals and principles. Disputes should be resolved informally by a school-based committee, not formal legal proceedings. #3 Accountability should... more

A wickedly beautiful day to you all, my Edu-Friends. Charter – palooza: Was it divine intervention? Good scheduling? Dumb luck? During this, the national Charter School Week, I was lucky enough to be in Sacramento walking through some very impressive public charter schools.  (And taking my hugs and kisses from Mayor Johnson) (do NOT tell Michelle Rhee.)  Talking with the school leaders at Capitol Collegiate and then walking through classrooms was one of the more inspirational experiences your intrepid writer has had in a while. Meanwhile, closer to home, the state PTA voted to support non-profit charters. Maybe someday, one of the top ranked public charters will come from Washington. For the best of what Washington currently has to offer, check the most recent rankings. Higher Ed – and Beyond: Sadly, these days the phrase “higher ed” conjures up  references to tuition.  Washington students won’t escape tuition hikes, even as they struggle to commit to majors that will find them gainfully employed in their area of study. While locally, our college degree rankings are raising eyebrows – and not in a good way. Seattle ranks 16th – and that doesn’t seem to take into... more

By Karen Fasimpaur Professional learning for K-12 teachers is an exciting space with great demand and high payoff for successful models. However, much of the professional development currently done for in-service teachers reflects old, industrial-era models of learning: rows of desks, teachers standing front and center, seat time, and lecture. Current models of granting credit to teachers are similarly antiquated and are rarely designed to prompt innovation in the classroom. The School of Ed on Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) was started to foster new models of professional learning for K-12 teachers. It is focused on open, community-based peer learning. It’s about hands-on experiences driven by each educator’s particular needs and classroom situations. It’s about connecting, collaborating, and creating, not just reading or studying. All courses and groups in the School of Ed are free, open-licensed (CC BY), and online. The content in them can be used by anyone for any purpose. P2PU’s School of Ed is very much a “lab” environment where participants are encouraged to try different models to see what works. This has... more

Edu-Gators, (Because I spent all morning filing my teeth to a fine point…) Happy Star Wars Day! Who knew that the 4th day of the 5th month would bring May the 4th be with you? It’s like April showers and May flowers. Or something. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia: I owe a huge apology and correction to the folks at Denny Middle School. Last week, I incorrectly credited the team at Asa Mercer Middle School with the video that is all MSP in the morning – and done by DENNY teachers. It’s a lot like giving away Jan Brady’s A+ paper to her older sister. Denny gets the credit – and it’s not like Mercer isn’t getting it’s propers. The team there (rightfully) gets more press than Jessica Simpson. Let’s give Denny their due. To Share or Not to Share. That is the Question: Well, gang, if you know anything about your intrepid writer, beyond her love for the Green and Gold and the Frozen Tundra, you know this: She WILL share that thing that you wished... more

Mobilizing Underserved Communities to Take Their Place in the Digital Economy At the NewSchools Venture Fund SUMMIT2012 (in collaboration with The Aspen Institute) this May in San Francisco, NewSchools CEO Ted Mitchell gave an inspiring address to one thousand members of America’s leading education reform movement. Ted Mitchell got me thinking. When we talk about lifting American children out of poverty—and there are fifteen million poor kids in the United States—our first thought is naturally about filling the basic needs of food, shelter, health care and social supports. Mitchell’s remarks remind us that it may be time to expand our notions of what constitutes “basic needs.”  Today’s kids, regardless of their socioeconomic status, need a set of critical abilities that will ensure that they continue to thrive in a rapidly changing global society. Education leaders are beginning to see this too. Over the past couple of years, model initiatives in several of the nation’s most challenged communities have put in place the infrastructure, learning culture, and innovative instructional techniques one might expect to see at... more

News Release: New Partnership Announced between the Association of American Educators and the Georgia Charter Schools Association  Alexandria, VA- The Association of American Educators (AAE) and the Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA) are proud to announce a new partnership to support Georgia’s talented charter school educators. AAE, the premier national, professional association for educators, will offer teachers and other employees of GCSA member schools full AAE membership at a low monthly rate in an effort to advance best practices and advocacy opportunities for public charter school teachers in Georgia. “We are pleased to partner with GCSA to provide professional membership and benefits to this group of dedicated charter school educators,” said AAE Executive Director Gary Beckner. “This partnership is a critical step in giving both organizations the tools to better support charter school teachers in Georgia.” Through this partnership, teachers and support staff at GCSA member schools are invited to join AAE for $15 per month. AAE members receive excellent professional benefits and services, including a $2 million liability insurance policy, as well as a united... more

About half of the states allow high school students to enroll in college courses.  Last week Minnesota joined the club with legislation powered by a ‘money follows the student’ provision.  Students can take courses on the college campus or online. Following is a summary written by our friend Joe Nathan. – At a time when there is great concern about college costs, and despite intense controversy, yesterday Minnesota Governor Mark Daytona and key Republican and Democratic leaders agreed, on a bi-partisan basis to a historic expansion of Minnesota’s Pioneer Post-Secondary Options legislation.   Many readers care about college costs, so I thought this might interest you. Starting in the 2012-13 school year, Minnesota high school 10th graders will be able to take free career/technical courses on college campuses.This extends Minnesota’s 27 year old “Post – Secondary Enrollment Options”, for which 11th and 12th graders have been eligible. The law allows participating students to take career tech courses on college campuses in 10th grade, and both career tech and academic courses in the 11th and 12th graders.... more

The average college student pays more than $1,100 every year for textbooks, reported the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). PIRG also reported that textbook costs are 26 percent of tuition at public universities and 72 percent of tuition at community colleges, according to estimates by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. “Many students are struggling financially and can not always afford to purchase their textbooks,” said James Sousa, a math faculty member and instructor at Phoenix College in Phoenix, AZ. “There are often financial aid issues that prevent students from having their money in time to have textbooks for the first day of class.” Students are navigating their educational experience with financial decisions that may negatively impact their success. According to a 2011 survey by PIRG, 7 out of 10 students on 13 campuses forego purchasing textbooks because of rising costs despite expectations that they would perform worse in the class. Some educators are turning to open education resources (OER), which are generally publicly edited and available to anyone, to level the playing field for students of all financial backgrounds,... more