By John Bailey, Executive Director of Digital Learning Now Three years ago, Digital Learning Now and Getting Smart’s Smart Series worked with some of the best education thought leaders to offer roadmaps for transitioning to next generation models of learning. This collection of interactive white papers has informed and inspired. The Smart Series has been widely used…
DLN Report Card: Competency-based Learning in Iowa
Last month, ExcelinEd’s Digital Learning Now initiative released the 2014 Digital Learning Report Card. We have been sharing state stories from the Report Card on the EdFly Blog to highlight progress and share success stories from individual states across the nation. These stories are based on interviews with policymakers and stakeholders and are published in collaboration…
4 Jun 2015
Why Our 19th Century Education System Belongs in the Museum
Some have argued that we should address widespread academic failure by making the school day longer or the school year longer. Others have suggested breaking up one long summer vacation into shorter breaks during the year. All this does is tinker with an anachronism. Students of varying abilities still will sit in a classroom for a pre-determined period to learn the same amount of material. This is equivalent to putting 1,000 high school students on the starting line and expecting them to finish a mile run in the same time.
5 May 2015
2014 National Summit on Education Reform – Don’t Miss This Opportunity
Dear Friends, Mark your calendars to join Governor Jeb Bush and ExcelinEd on November 20-21 for our 7th annual National Summit on Education Reform in Washington, D.C.! While I say it every year, I have no doubt this will be our best summit yet. Governor Bush will open the summit with a breakfast keynote on…
1 Oct 2014
Upgrading High Schools with MOOCs
By: Nathan Martin edX believes that students who want to learn deserve access to the best classes in the world. Since launching in 2012, the non-profit collaboration governed by MIT and Harvard has expanded opportunities for driven and motivated students to take Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) from some of the best universities in the…
23 Sep 2014
Improving Student Engagement With Course Access
By: Neil Campbell As someone who is lucky to have friends all over the Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast – every week from early August through early September involves a new round of pictures on my Facebook feed with captions to the effect of, “I can’t believe (…) is already in (…) grade!” These pictures are…
29 Aug 2014
In Plain English: FL SB 1664
Summary SB 1664 (Open States or Florida Legislature) deals with teacher preparation and governance by the State Board of Education (SBOE), expanding the current state-approved teacher preparation program to include a competency-based certification program and links a teachers evaluations to the test scores of the students that they teach. Legislative Analysis In 2011, SB 376…
4 Feb 2014
In Plain English: MN HF 630
Summary Minnesota HF 630 (Open States or Minnesota Legislature) is the omnibus K-12 Education Policy and Finance Bill. It adds ways to demonstrate proficiency to fulfill graduation requirements, sets forth guidelines for adopting computer-adaptive testing in grades 3-7, and makes changes to the Online and Digital Learning Council. Legislative Analysis HF 630 contains numerous provisions…
3 Feb 2014