Assessment
School Board Members Consider Digital & Deeper Learning
Bob Wise, Mark Edwards and Tom Vander Ark discussed digital learning at NSBA in Boston. Another session considered the potential for the Common Core to encourage deeper learning.
Less Grading, More Teaching, Deeper Learning
Less grading, more teaching. More feedback, less waiting. Fewer worksheets, more writing. Less multiple choice, deeper learning. These are the reasons I’m spending a good portion of 2012 working on online assessment. Better assessment tools means better state tests and richer teaching and learning.
SmartTech: Tab Testing, Apps, Biz Models, & Better Higher Ed
Tablet testing.  We think there’s a pretty good chance that both PARCC and SBAC will allow tablets (iPads specifically) for testing.  That would be good news for all the districts buying tablets but as Tom discussed in getting ready for online assessment, there are many issues…
Deeper Learning Not Lighter Journalism
One thing that really disappoints me is newspaper reporters that try so hard to be cute that they miss–or botch–a story. Â Stephanie Simon from Reuters is a pandering case in point. Â After a number of my colleagues invested a lot of time with her discussing the Hewlett Foundation sponsored Automated…
The 10 Big Issues of Our Time
The introduction of real college and career ready expectations is occurring simultaneously with the shift from batch-print to personal digital learning. These two shocks to the American education ‘system’ lead to at least 10 big issues that need to be addressed.
Webinar: The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia
Two state consortia—Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium—are hard at work putting ambitious designs in place for new assessment systems. They have released materials and will soon select contractors to build assessments and the infrastructure to support them. What do their current plans look like?
New Survey Shows Demand for Personalized & Adaptive Learning Assessments
The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and Grunwald Associates LLC released today "For every child, multiple measures," a study that evaluates parent and teacher support for timely, actionable assessments that monitor individual student performance.
Q&A: Ohio Educators & Students Talk Digital Learning With House Education Committee
Yesterday I joined colleagues from KnowledgeWorks and testified before the Ohio House Education Committee chaired by Gerald Stebelton. They already passed HB153 expanding online options for students in Ohio, but they have work to do as I outlined in my testimony. I followed for very articulate students well served by online and blended schools. The committee asked great questions.
SXSWedu Announces US Secretary of Education as Keynote
"We are excited to have Arne Duncan give a keynote at SXSWedu 2012. His work as the U.S. Secretary of Education, striving for improvements in the quality of learning in America, has a huge impact on the future of education."
MasteryConnect Receives $1 Million to Expand Common Core Efforts
NewSchools Venture Fund announced today that MasteryConnect, an online assessment sharing community around Common Core Standards, received more than $1 million in seed funding to scale the organization and reach of its platform among teachers. NewSchools led the round of funding in support with Learn Capital, Imagine K12 and others.