Getting Smart Staff

EdTech 10: It’s all About Scale, Progress and Knowledge

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As educators and EdLeaders gear up for ISTE 2015, news this week was all about scale, progress, and knowledge. Be it with the new research, reports, or resources, or the growth of networks and opportunities for educators to skill up, be in the know with this week’s news especially if you’re headed to #SliceOfISTE.

#NotAtISTE? Here are some summer learning ideas for parents, educators, and students to curb the brain drain.

Blended Schools & Tools

1. Opening Up. Through six regional programs, 49 school teams received grants as part of a $25 million Next Generation Learning Challenges K­-12 initiative to create new and transformed secondary schools. 29 new or redesigned K­-12 schools will open this fall.

2. Looking back. Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute released a report on year one of the Fuse RI project. It’s great to see progress made by these leaders preparing leaders for deeper learning. Live in The Ocean State? Interested in becoming a Fuse fellow? Apply by July 3.  

3. Pass the mic. This week in both Education Week and The Journal, The Learning Accelerator Partner Daniel Owens was given the mic for interviews on his prototype online purchasing portal.

Digital Developments

4. Millennials are tech savvy, jk. Millennials are tolerant, educated, enterprising and hyphenated. But, that doesn’t mean they’re experts when it comes to tech. Does Not Compute is a new report from Change the Equation that shares how most millennials, despite their fluency on social media, have a hard time solving problems using tech.

Dollars & Deals

5. C.R.E.A.M. Pearson’s PowerSchool is now in the hands of private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners. The price? $350 million. According to Pearson’s Chief Executive John Fallon, the sale will enable them to focus more directly on learning outcomes.

Higher, Deeper, Further, Faster Learning

6. Leadership roles. Big Picture Learning and Internationals Network for Public Schools are now accepting applications for their Deeper Learning Equity Fellows Program. This new 24-month program is a great example of preparing leaders for deeper learning.

    7. Meet the parents. So, why are parents choosing to enroll their students in full-time online public schools? Connections Academy answered this with the release of the results of their annual survey. Quick facts: 95% feel the curriculum is high quality, 91% of parents agree that their children are making good progress at Connections Academy, 93% of parents agree that they are satisfied with the variety of learning activities.

Policy Pieces

8. Take it from the locals. While the case for competency-based policy has been growing at the federal level, many states and local policymakers are still looking for examples of what works. That’s why the Great Schools Partnership curated examples of exemplar district policies.

Let’s Get Personalized

9. We got the power. This week on Quartz, Michael Horn (co-author of BLENDED), shared a powerful blog on the power of online learning to personalize learning for each student, dubbed Children should advance in school according to skill, not age.

10. That OG Cred. The original MOOC, Sesame Street, was touted in a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research as, “The largest and least-costly [early childhood] intervention that’s ever been implemented.” Bert and Ernie, great choice for Smart Parents since ‘69.

For more EdTech 10s, check out:

Getting Smart Staff

The Getting Smart Staff believes in learning out loud and always being an advocate for things that we are excited about. As a result, we write a lot. Do you have a story we should cover? Email [email protected]

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