Summary HB 7009 (Open States or Florida Legislature) increases accountability and transparency for charter schools while offering charters flexibility and allowing them to grow. It establishes the District Innovation School of Technology Program. It also stipulates that full implementation of on-line assessments of state standards is contingent upon verifying the technology capacity of all public…
Digital Learning Now! Releases Smart Series Guide to EdTech Procurement
Digital Learning Now! (DLN), a national initiative of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), today released the 10th white paper in the DLN Smart Series in association with Getting Smart. Titled “Smart Series Guide to EdTech Procurement,” the paper features the expertise of John Bailey, executive director of Digital Learning Now!, Carri Schneider, director of policy and research at Getting Smart, and Tom Vander Ark, CEO at Getting Smart, as well as that of contributing authors Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates, and Daniel Owens, partner at the Learning Accelerator.
15 Jan 2014
In Plain English: FL SB 1076
Summary SB 1076 (Open States or Florida Legislature), the Career and Professional Education Act, creates new types of high school diploma designations, changes the funding formula for virtual institutions, revises graduation requirements, and focuses on integrating technology skills and industry certifications into programs in order to prepare students for high-demand, high-skill careers. In addition, the…
13 Jan 2014
In Plain English: CT HB 6704
Summary HB 6704 (Open States or Connecticut Legislature) establishes the state’s budget for the fiscal years 2014 and 2015. It expands previously enacted K-12 education reforms as well as science and technology programs at the University of Connecticut. It also appropriates funds for longitudinal data systems and implementation of the Common Core State standards. Legislative…
10 Jan 2014
In Plain English: CO SB 213
Summary SB 213 (Open States or Colorado Legislature) was a wide-reaching education reform bill that sought to restructure the state’s education funding system. It would have equalized online program funding with the statewide base per pupil funding, considered on-line students when calculating charter school funding, and established the Education Innovation Grant Program to fund innovative…
10 Jan 2014
In Plain English: CO SB 139
Summary SB 139 (Open States or Colorado Legislature) ensures that all high school students in Colorado have access to taking at least one supplemental on-line course each year by designating a single Boards of Cooperative Educational Service (BOCES) to contract and administer online courses with non-profit providers. It also requires annual parent, teacher, and student…
9 Jan 2014
In Plain English: AR SB 233
Summary SB 233 (Act 1309) (Open States or Arkansas Legislature) raises the cap at any K-12 open-enrollment public charter virtual school from 500 students to 3,000 students. Students in the 2,500 additional slots must have been enrolled in an Arkansas public school for the first three quarters of the prior school year. The legislation also maintains funding for…
9 Jan 2014
Smart Policy in the Age of Disruption
The classroom of the future is not a fixed blueprint. Just like a record producer in 1974 could barely imagine the world of music in 2014, so the future of education is one which will look little as it does now, evolving and morphing along with the needs of the students and the advances in…
7 Jan 2014