By: John Bailey
September 17, 2012
Technology has led to an unprecedented around-the-clock access to information and technology at our fingertips. The digital age unfolding before us daily has changed the way we live and work, and has touched every industry from banking to healthcare to entertainment. In each instance, these digitally-enabled revolutions are empowering individuals with more information, greater access to options, and more personalized experiences.
This transformation has taken place in just about every aspect of our lives, except in the way we educate our children. Students growing up in an app-based, personalized world are confronted by an education system designed in an industrial era, based on an agriculture calendar. With so many options in their personal lives and so few in the traditional classroom, it’s no wonder so many students have become disinterested and disengaged in the learning process and are dropping out in record numbers. A recent report from the Center for American Progress concluded that many students in the traditional school system are not being challenged. Thirty-seven percent of fourth graders surveyed throughout the country said their math work is often or always too easy. Almost a third of eighth graders reported reading fewer than five pages a day for school, and 39 percent of 12th graders said they hardly ever write about what they read in class.
So, it is strikingly odd that individuals like Sam Pizzigati want to criticize new approaches and innovations to education, but remain remarkably silent regarding traditional approaches that fail our kids year after year. Pizzigati criticizes state officials for “allowing tax dollars to underwrite K-12 virtual disasters,” but he ignores the more than two million students stuck in dropout factories and that despite billions spent by the federal government, less than one percent of chronically-underperforming schools are able to turn around after five years. In contrast, the virtual schools in most states today operate on a performance-pay model; meaning that they don’t get paid unless the student completes and/or passes the course. Or, they operate under a chartering mechanism that allows them to be closed if they fail to meet performance metrics. The problem is not that we are offering too much innovation to students; it is that we’re offering too little. And, the problem with Pizzigati’s article is that he cherry-picks a handful of cases while ignoring the broader movement.
The Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is a great example. The school, which was created under Democratic Governor Lawton Chiles in 1996 and has served approximately 159,000 students, consistently outperforms traditional schools on the state’s comprehensive assessment test. The school’s high standards and positive results have resulted in a three-year waiting list for teaching vacancies and consistently gets high marks from parents – with 97 percent of them stating the curriculum is high quality and 95 percent saying they would recommend it to other families.Virginia Beach Public School District has used a blended-learning technology that drives personalized literacy instruction which has helped students in several schools to achieve nearly two and a half years of academic growth in just one year. New models like Rocketship Education and Carpe Diem have completely reimagined what school and class look like, and are consistently ranked as top achieving schools in their states. Studies in the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse have found positive results for approaches that use online algebra courses and personalized literacy systems.
The attempt by Pizzigati to polarize the issue by painting digital education reform as a “right-wing ideology,” rather than the bipartisan cause it is and should be, is shameful. These efforts have been championed by Republicans and Democrats alike, including Governors Jeb Bush and Bob Wise as well as the U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. The moral imperative to better serve our students and the urgency to reform a system of education to one that prepares them for the jobs and world they will face requires us to explore new approaches and models.
The fact of the matter is that education is the only sector in the U.S. still debating the merits of using technology to improve its mission and explore new models for learning, and as a result our kids are being left behind. As the world continues to shift from an industrial model to a rapidly-evolving knowledge-based economy, it is our responsibility to engage and prepare our children for the challenges and opportunities ahead.
John Bailey is the executive director of Digital Learning Now! He served as the nation’s second Director of Educational Technology, was a Domestic Policy Advisor at the White House, and has held numerous executive-level positions focusing on education and technology, and is co-founder of the strategic consulting firm Whiteboard Advisors.