Guest Commentary: Jeb Bush on Technology in the Classroom

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush teamed up with former Gov. Bob Wise this year to help create the Digital Learning Council, an education policy group dedicated to encouraging states to bring technology into classrooms.
The goal of the group is to "move digital learning to the forefront of education and away from the 'niche role' " it currently plays in too many schools.
Bush sat down with Washington Post Education Writer Jay Mathews for a wide-ranging conversation and education, technology, and the future.
Click here to see a video of that conversation.

Tom Vander Ark: The Open Social World to Come

Most learning today is closed and antisocial. Textbooks and bubble sheets are inherently antisocial. Most content and information systems are proprietary, they are expensive and they don't work together. School architecture discourages collaboration; teachers don't have much opportunity to work together; students only occasionally have a chance to learn together.
Most learning five years from now will be open and social.
Click here to read what I believe will be the 10 shifts from proprietary to open content.

Guest Commentary: Pa. Auditor Gen. 'Why I Want a Moratorium on New Cyber Charter Schools'

Pennsylvania State Auditor Gen. Jack Wagner stunned his state this fall when he said there should be a moratorium on creation of cyber-charter and charter schools until a new state funding system is in place.
According to Wagner, the current funding system has serious inequities in how tax money is used to finance these public school alternatives.
Leading Pennsylvania educators were quick to defend--and denounce--Wagner's proposal.
Ron Sofo — superintendent of Freedom Area School District — said “in tough economic times — when everybody’s scraping to get by — you have to find a system that’s more fiscally responsible to everyone.”
Nick Trombetta — chief executive officer at the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School — said the present system “expects us to do as much (as a public school) with less (money per student) — and we’ve been doing a reasonably good job with it at PA Cyber — so I don’t see where we’re the problem."
In an op-ed published in the Philadelphia Daily News, Wagner explained his stand. "If you have a drafty home, you know it's smarter and cheaper to fix the broken window than to turn up the thermostat to stay warm," Wagner wrote.
"That's just common sens, and it's the same approach I've taken to fixing Pennsylvania's broken system for funding charter and cyber-charter schools, whose cost has risen at an unsustainable rate over the last four years to nearly $1 billion a year."
Click here to read all of Wagner's article.

Michael B. Horn: Thomas Jefferson's Successful Education System

In mid-November, I had the privilege to once again attend and speak at the Virtual School Symposium, iNACOL's annual online learning conference, which looks toward this very future. The title this year was "Online and Blended Learning: The Future of Education."
As usual, it was a great conference--for my two cents, it's consistently the best education conference year after year. The energy is infectious. The focus is on the student. And, in classic disruptive fashion, amidst tough budget times, it--and the sector more generally--continues to grow. The continuing innovation in the field is thrilling as well, as the title of the conference suggest.
During Gov. Bob Wise's keynote, however, the enormity of the task of transforming the system hit me, as he laid out the challenge for the nation in stark terms.
Click here to read more of my post and why I believe if Thomas Jefferson were to comeback to today the education system he would find would be very similar to the education system he helped to create. What's more, I will discuss why we need to continue to work for change.

Terry Moe: Technology Will Accomplish What Vouchers Never Could

Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia recently interviewed me in my office at Stanford University, where we discussed the radical new shape of 21st century schools, the "sheer power" of teachers unions, and how Barack Obama has delivered on his campaign promises of education reform.
We talked at length about the revolution in information technology, which has placed huge amounts of information at everyone's fingertips, will do to teachers unions what a meteor did to dinosaurs: wipe them out and make way for new life forms.
The interview is scheduled to be published in January, 2011. Click here for an early look at the interview.

Tom Vander Ark: 13 Steps to Building Your Blended School

Here are 13 questions that may be helpful in planning your new -- or converted -- blended school.
Getting real world answers to all of the questions are important. For example, who will attend? How will students access learning? What role will teachers play? What role will students play? What is the opening/transition budget? Is the model sustainable.
Click here to see all the questions and recommendations on how to find answers.

Michael B. Horn: Jeb Bush and Bob Wise Join Me in Calling for Transformation of Education with Digital Learning

Two former governors--Jeb Bush of Florida and Bob Wise of West Virginia--and this author of Disrupting Class know that a road map is crucial for mapping out how digital learning can succeed and have the transformational impact the country needs.
During the past several months in the Digital Learning Council, we worked with more than 100 leaders in education, government, philanthropy, business. technology and think tanks to create the road map that lawmakers and policymakers must take to spark this educational revolution.
Govs. Bush, Wise and I made our case in an oped published on thehill.com.
Click here to read the case we made and let us know what you think.

Michael B. Horn: On the Road to Transformation, Digital Learning Now

This week marked the release of the Digital Learning Council's recommendations for transforming American Education--10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning.
The Digital Learning Council, convened by former governors Jeb Bush and Bob Wise, has worked for the past several months to produce a roadmap for transforming the American education system so that all children can have an education that allows them to maximize their human potential and pursue their loftiest dreams.
The pathway to realizing that vision is digital learning. As a member of the council and as the executive director of Innosight Institute, I (along with Innosight Institutes's staff) am excited to now join the effort with Digital Learning Now--a national initiative to advance the policies that stem from these recommendations.
Click here to read more of my thoughts, and why I believe there are many risks along the way.

Guest Commentary: California Fails at Giving Children a Quality High-Tech Education

K. Lloyd Billingsley is the editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute which is the publisher of the soon-to-be-released book Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California.
In an op-ed published by sfexaminer.com, Billingsley wrote. "Countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, Singapore, India and China, along with the European Union, are taking full advantage of online education. California, home to Silicon Valley and major high-tech companies, lags far behind. One of the reasons is opposition from teachers unions. "
Billingsley added: "It will soon be 2011, but these unions still operate under a 19th-century industrial model completely unsuitable for education. More technology means better efficiency, which means fewer workers are necessary to perform the same job. So unions fight to block technological innovation."
Click here to read Billingsley's entire article.

Lisa Keegan: The Future of Education is Already Here

What if all the desperate problems in American education had already been solved?
Let's imagine that there were a burgeoning,truly, bipartisan movement of parents, teachers, school leaders, political leaders, and regular, run-of-the-mill citizens who have had it with American failure in education and want the nation to know there is a whole sector of success out there, getting the job done for kid, and it's tired of being treated as though it doesn't exist.
Imagine no more ... welcome to the Education Breakthrough, and the reality of emerging school choice in America.
The next few years may well be the most exciting time in the history of American education, becuase emerging in the shadows of its moribund and desperately underperforming big sister comes a baby the nation can be proud of.
This is the world of school choice, where parents choose schools that work for their own children and take an active role in their children's education. These are the nation's private schools, public charter schools, home schools, online schools, special needs schools--these are the schools that re tailored for the students they serve. This is the fastest growing, most efficient and undeniably the most effective sector of American education. This is a sector where being the best truly matters.
Click here to read more on why I believe the future of education is here.

Tom Vander Ark: What Do Virtual Schools Cost?

That's a good question. Education policymakers from Georgia to Oregon and many points in-between are trying to find an equitable answer.
The Digital Learning Council will issue its 10 recommendations for state policy makers this week. The process has kicked off a school finance discussion that includes these questions:

• What do virtual schools cost?
• What is the best way to use school funding to promote achievement, completion, and innovation?

Click here to read my complete post which includes some thoughtful ideas from an online school operator

Guest Commentary: Georgia Public Policy Foundation: U.S. Education has a Choice--Innovate or Become Irrlevant

Imagine that two little boys were playing ball in the field when the one with freckles said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be just like my Dad! He works in the factory putting zippers into blue jeans."
The other little boy, without any freckles, smiled as only little boys can smile and said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be just like my Dad! I don't know what he does but he wears a suit. I'm going to wear a suit, too!"
Odds are very long that neither little boy would grow up to be just like Dad. Zipper jobs at the blue jeans factory left the country, and whatever job the other little boy's dad had was probably reinvented and might also be extinct.
The message here is both little boys must be educated for a work world that will continue to evolve, not the one that allowed their Dads to earn steady incomes.
There is widespread recognition this will require new approaches. Learning without borders is the idea public education must embrace technology and new ways to make material available to students.
That is the message former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise brought to a recent conference hosted in Atlanta by the Public Policy Foundation and the Conservative Leadership Policy Institute. Wise and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush launched the Digital Learning Council this year to focus on new strategies for digital change in education. How to integrate learning without borders into traditional settings that might resist new ideas is the challenge being addressed by the Digital Learning Council and like-minded groups.
Click here to read more of Georgia Public Policy Foundation editor Mike Klein's take on the virtual education movement and why he believes U.S. education must innovate or become irrelevant.

Tom Vander Ark: The Pivot to Digital Learning: 40 Predictions

The education sector has not historically been very dynamic, but this year things changed.
Despite the recession, we have seen more start-ups and more cool applications than ever before. More investors have joined the space, and the big guys remain acquisitive.
The pivot from print to digital learning, classes to students, seat time to competence is on.
Click here to find out how I think it will play out over one, five, and 10 years from now.

Michael B. Horn: A Letter to the Georgia Education Community

The state of Georgia is no stranger to online learning. According to the Keeping Pace with Online Learning K-12 report, 13,000-15,000 Georgia students took online course in 2008-2009. The Georgia Virtual School, a state-run entity under the auspices of the state Department of Education, boasted 9,793 enrollments in 2008-2009 school year. Georgia has full-time online charter as well, including the Georgia Virtual Academy, a K-8 school operated by the online learning company K12 Inc.that served 4,400 full-time students in 2008-2009.
Even with this growth of online learning in Georgia, many continue to see it as merely a small part of education that adds choices that may better fit a student's needs. That is certainly true, but online learning is much more than that. It is a disruptive innovation that has the potential to help transform the present-day monolithic, factory-model education system into a student-centric and far more affordable fit for the 21st century.
As a result, there are still significant opportunities for Georgia to do much more with online learning. If the state plays its cards right, it has the potential to provide many more students and families with quality choices for their education and transform public education in the process.
Click here to read my complete message to Georgians on how online learning is an opportunity to transform public education in their state.

Christina Martin: Union's School Funding Fears Unfounded, Study Finds

Online charter schools offer kids even in the far corners of Oregon the chance to receive a public education tailored to their individual needs. Yet many districts and union representatives oppose Oregon's virtual charter schools claiming they drain money from local districts.
Due to these complaints, Oregon's legislature will consider allowing school districts to deny additional students access to virtual charter schools if 3 percent of the district's students have already enrolled in an online option.
But a report released earlier this month by the Cascade Policy Institute shows that these fears are unfounded. Overall, online school have had little impact on spending and actually can allow district to spend more per student.
Unlike ordinary public schools, online charters do not receive local funding and they receive substantially less per-student funding than traditional public schools. That means a student to an online charter school usually enables the student's home district, and the charter school's sponsoring district, to spend more money per remaining traditional public school student.
While virtual charters have little financial impact on school districts, they have a huge impact on each child who thrives in an online school. Instead of talking about limiting options further, legislators, district officials, and union members should celebrate success and look for ways to increase kids' educational opportunities.
Click here to read the full report.

Guest Commentary: Chris Sturgis and Susan Patrick--When Failure is not an Option

Explorations into next generation learning are sweeping across the country. Technological advancements are opening up new educational opportunities that emphasize personalized, student-centered, performance-based, anytime,anywhere educational opportunities.
In other words, it is time to turn away from the Carnegie unit and embrace competency-based pathways.
Competency-based policy is best described as flexibility in awarding credit or defined as an alternative to the Carnegie unit. Yet, this does not capture the depth of the transformation of our education system from a seat-time based system (Carnegie) to a learning-based system (competency pathway).
Competency-based learning follow these simple principles:

• Students advance upon mastery.
• Explicit and measurable learning objectives empower students.
• Assessment is a meaningful and positive learning experience for students.

States leading the development of policies to allow competency-based pathways include New Hampshire, Oregon, Ohio, and Alabama, to name a few. Evidence from the early innovators—including Diploma Plus, Chugach Alaska School District, Florida Virtual School, Re-inventing Schools Coalition (RISC), and Equity and Achievement for Standards-based Learning Institute (EASL)—are encouraging.
Yet, there is a dearth of formal documentation, research, or evaluation on competency based approaches.Elimination of seat-time regulations is too simplistic of a solution.
Creating a culture of continuous improvement is one of the keys to successfully implementing a competency-based educational environment.
Click here for the executive summary of When Failure is not an Option: Designing Competency-Based Pathways for Next Generation Learning.
Click here for the complete report.

Tom Vander Ark: Back of the Envelope Calculation on U.S. Adoption rate of Blended Learning

Here's my thinking.
Home schooling will double to more than 3 million students.
Virtual schools (mostly charter) will see full time enrollments climb to 1.5 million.
With home education, that’s almost 5 million kids educated at home, or nearly 10 percent.
New blended schools, mostly charters, will serve more than 1 million kids.
A couple chains like Rocketship will serve a couple hundred thousand kids.
There's more to my pencil calculations, including a chart and a graph.
Click here to read more and tell me what you think.

Guest Commentary: The Hechinger Report--Do Online Credit Recovery Courses Work?

The Hechinger Report was launched earlier this year as a nonprofit news organization producing in-depth reports on education. It's goal is to fill the reporting gaps created during the downsizing of traditional news media outlets.
This month, Hechinger reporters have turned their attention to Solving the Dropout Problem?The article's focus is on the role that online credit recovery programs play in reducing dropout rates.
Online credit recovery, that is allowing students who have failed a class to retake it and "recover" the credit toward graduation, is gaining in popularity. The reasons are simple.

• Online "cassrooms" can go where the students are--in storefronts, in malls, at home.
• Older students, who may not fit in at a traditional high school with younger students, can take the classes any where, any time.
• The cost for online recovery classes is less, a big plus for school districts in this cash-strapped age.

The Hechinger Report article questions the rigor in these online courses and whether these courses can reduce dropout numbers. "Questions remain over whether credit recovery effectively mirrors the difficulty and quality of traditional courses in all school districts. Almost no research exists on how much, or how little, students learn in credit-recovery courses," according to the report.
Click here to read the complete article.

Tom Vander Ark: Blended Learning Update

Most secondary schools will soon be blended and that’s good news for students.
What is "blended learning"? In the K-12 context. my definition of blended learning is:

1. Shifting instructional responsibility for at least a portion of the day to an online or computer-based environment.
2. Boosting learning, staffing and/or facilitating productivity.

By decade end, most secondary students will do most of their learning online and most will attend a school that is at least partially blended. The shift from print to digital and classes to students will allow more students to graduate from high school in three years with one year of college credit.
Click here to read more of my thoughts on blended learning and why I believe that as tools and platforms get more sophisticated we’ll see blends that increasingly customize the rate and mode of learning experience for every student.

Terry M. Moe: Virtual Education--A True Revolution

"Technology is one of the most revolutionary things to hit education."
That's how I started my talk at the Hoover Institution's October 2010 Retreat.
The impact of technology on K-12 education is unstoppable. It is going to completely change the way education is carried out in this country and everywhere else. It is going to change the nature of politics, the nature of education politics, and the structure of power.
What will the school of the future look like?
The education of the future will not be a teacher standing in front of 30 kids. That will be archaic. It will be a hybrid, a mixture of computer learning and regular school with personalized instruction for each child. Students will, in the next 10, 20, maybe more years, will take 80 percent of their coursework on online.
I also explain why technology is not a reform. Basically, technology is this big social force that is overwhelming the planet and education is not going to be able to escape from it.
Click here to listen to the audio of my talk.

Tom Vander Ark: Tech Improves Learning and Saves Money

Angus King, former governor of Maine, decided Maine was going to lead the way into the 21st century with a laptop for every child.
Starting in 2002, Maine middle schools began converting to 1:1 learning environments. In Tom Greave's forward to a report in which he identifies nine key factors that improve learning and save money, he writes, "Project RED is nothing less than a blueprint for remaking American education ... through fundamentally altering how we do education, the first real change in the process of education itself in a thousand years."
The soon to be released MDR report is based on research in almost 1,000 schools during the last school year. The research team considered 22 variables and 11 success measures.
Click here to see a list of practices that appear to improve learning the most. Technology plays a big part in what is successful.

Guest Commentary: EdReformer's Douglas Certs on Virtual Ed. Decisions in Oklahoma

Politicians in Oklahoma are leaning toward the Massachusetts mess up earlier this year, when it comes to drafting proposals for online virtual schools. The mainstay to this language seems to be that parents and student needs are left out of the mix. We are looking at the same issue here of physical location and committees being the rule of the game, rather than educational necessities and the ability to seek out the best high quality education for a kid.
According to a draft document with this heading: “210:16-34 Title 210 State Department of Education Chapter 16 – Curriculum and Instruction (New) Subchapter 34 – Online Course Procedures,” politicians in Oklahoma are lining up future online education and virtual charters rules to keep all the control in the hands of districts, rather than parents. They are also missing an opportunity to strengthen their charters law to enable virtual charters, like some of the successful statewide programs that run with great benefit to students elsewhere in the United States.
Click here to read the complete post on edreformer.com

Tom Vander Ark: How Digital Learning Will Change America

By the end of the decade, most U.S. schools will blend online and onsite learning to customize learning and extend the day and year.
Most high school students will do most of their work online. All students (and teachers) will have Internet access devices and broadband.
It's inevitable.
The transition will be uneven and depending on the state and local leaders. This week I’ll be visiting with many of almost 900 charter authorizers. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers is leading the charge for better charter schools. Susan Patrick from the International Association of K-12 Online Learning and I will encourage authorizers to lead the way in expanding high quality online options for students and families
Read my complete post on how online learning will change America by clicking here.

Guest Commentary: Reason's Katherine Mangu-Ward on Credentialing Online Teachers

Does an outstanding online teacher need another credential?
Maybe not.
In a short Reason.com post (Happiness is a Warm Body on the Other End of the Computer) Katherine Mangu-Ward writes that she is not convinced that additional credentials for online teachers is such a good thing.
"Nothing will slow the process" of exploring online education options "than a bunch of state rushing to adopt mandatory teacher certification for online schools," Magnu-Ward writes.
Click here to read her complete post.
Magnu-Ward is in good company in her opinion about the necessity of additional credentials for online teacher.
Karen Cator, the Department of Education's director of the Office of Educational Technology, suggested that "professional development" are often redundant for teachers who are more tech savvy than we think, according to Education's Week's Digital Education blog.
Click here to read EdWeek's complete report on Cator and her thoughts.

Guest commentary: AEI's Charles Murray on Using Technology to Transform Education

"In an age when teenagers master complex video games, track down arcana on the Web in a blinding flurry of keystrokes, pull things out of their cell phones that their parents never knew were in there and love every bit of it, we make them put all that aside at the classroom door. We tell them to sit quietly in groups of 25 or 30 and usually (with apologies to the many brilliant teachers who are out there) listen to a mediocre presentation of an uninspired curriculum," writes Charles Murray, the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
In the Washington Times op-ed, Murray adds, "the potential of ... virtual schools to transform secondary education exists."
Click here to read the entire article.

Tom Vander Ark: States Adding Mandatory Certification for Teaching Online

Idaho is moving toward a mandate that online teachers have additional training to teach in a solely virtual environment. Most online teachers in Georgia must pass a professional-development course in virtual instruction. And many other virtual schools in other parts of the country require that their cyber educators complete professional development aimed specifically at teaching in an online environment.
Yet many states and education groups still have not addressed the issue of teacher quality for the online classroom. And dissenters say added requirements for cyber educators could exacerbate existing teacher shortages, and even be detrimental to teacher quality.
Those supporting additional certification see it differently. They say the goal is to make sure students aren’t getting shortchanged.
I believe it's clear that most of these hurdles will not add quality (just guaranteed work and revenue for state offices and colleges). Here’s the full story. Let me know if you think certification for online instruction can add value.

Michael B. Horn: Khan Academy Brings Disrupting Class to Life

What started out as a way to help some cousins in New Orleans with their math homework has blossomed into a prime example of how technology will change the education system.
Sal Khan, creator of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit with more than 1,800 free videos on topics ranging from math to the humanities, is nothing short of a phenomenon.
The Khan Academy reaches people all over the world. Google recently award the Khan Academy $2 million to create more educational videos and translate them into multiple languages.
Learn more about Khan, his academy and why I believe he is a real life "disrupting" influence.
Click here for more from me and links to a video of Khan speaking at the GEL 2010 Conference.

Tom Vander Ark: Thoughts on Education Nation

Outgoing NBC chief Jeff Zucker and news head Steve Capus deserve credit for an all in multi-channel commitment to Education Nation.
Despite rain induced facilities challenges it was a good first year outing. The NBC family, especially MSNBC, may a pretty strong embrace of the administration and the aligned edreform community.
There were a lot of media folks but few of the edtech crowd (many of which were at the simultaneous EdNet in Boston).
Panels seemed about a third off–heavy with sponsors, short of interesting people. NBC made a strong effort to have 50 great teachers around and in each session.
Tom Brokaw set a great tone and did a nice hour segment with Secretary Duncan on recruiting new teachers. Duncan was more compelling than Obama during his hour with Matt Lauer where he was articulate but uninspired.
As is always the case at conferences, the hallway chats were the most valuable.
That said, here is another perspective, which I titled On the Brink, but of What? on the edreformer.com blog.
This note from Joe Williams, Democrats for Education Reform, was important enough that I thought I'd share it in full:

Babson Survery Research Group: American High Schools Administrators Increasingly Embrace Online Education

High school principals like online learning. At least that's the conclusion of a Babson Survery Research Group report called Classon Connections: High School Reform and the Role of Online Learning.
Using data collected from a national sample of more than 400 high school principals, the study found these administrators see online learning as meeting the diverse needs of their students whether through advanced placement, elective college courses, or credit recovery.
The major reason cited for online and blended offerings is to provide courses that otherwise would not be available.
Study coauthor Anthony G. Picciano of The Graduate Center and Hunter College at City University of New York, pointed out the critical importance for online education among the smaller and rural schools.
"High schools in all locales are facing serious challenges, but rural schools probably have the most difficulty. Online and blended learning are a critical part of the strategy they are employing to deal with limited tax bases, low enrollments, and difficulty in attracting and keeping certified teachers," he said.
Some of the report's key findings include:

• Credit recovery is the most popular type of online course being offered at the secondary level. Urban high schools, which historically have the lowest graduation rates, are embracing online credit recovery as a basic part of their academic offerings.


• High school administrators consider online elective college-level courses an effective means for the more able students to begin their college careers.


• Survey respondents report that offering online and blended courses makes financial sense when trying to meet specific needs for small groups of students.


• Rural schools are in the vanguard in offering online and blended learning programs to their students—using online courses to overcome significant problems in funding, teacher certification, and small enrollments.

Click here for pdf of report.

Be Part of Sept. 29 Live Chat with Liberarting Learning Blog Contributor Michael B. Horn

Michael B. Horn, coauthor of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (McGraw-Hill) will be part of a live chat with EdReformer.com's Douglas Certs and Andrew Barras on Sept. 29 at 12 noon EST.
Horn is the Executive Director, Education, of the Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank devoted to applying the theories of disruptive innovation to problems in the social sector. A new, updated edition of Disrupting Class was published and is now available.
For more information about the live chat, go to edreformer.com.

Guest Commentary: Nev. GOP Central Committee Member Asks Gubernatorial Candidates to Consider Online Schools

Jim Clark, president of Republican Advocates, a vice chair of the Washoe County GOP and a member of the Nevada GOP Central Committee, believes expanding virtual schools is one way to solve the state's budget crisis.
What's more, he tells the candidates running to become Nevada's governor that they need take a stand on virtual education.
"Both candidates promise voters that education will not suffer but offer no details," Clark writes in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza.
"If technology can really whack down education spending yet deliver superior educational services why aren't both governor wannabes promoting this? In a word: Teacher unions," he adds.
Click here to read the entire article.

Tom Vander Ark on 5 Categories Where Private Investment Will Help Education

The expansion of broadband, reduction in price of access devices, and powerful application development platforms—all primarily a result of private investment—have changed the opportunity set.
Equally exciting is the development of social entrepreneurship—impact-oriented enterprises with a return-seeking or at least sustainable business model.
The worldwide recession accelerated the instincts of and opportunities for the Millennial generation to do meaningful work. Talent is being attracted to problems in global education with the expansion of career options in addition to being a teacher.
The amount and quality of proposals makes it easier to seek high impact and high return.
Click here to read the 5 categories I believe where private capital will play an important role. You will also find a link to my AEI paper "Coordinated public-private partnerships (PPP) will be key to meeting the unique challenge of rapidly scaling access to quality education. Private investment will not fix the problems with education, but it will not be fixed without it."

Guest Commentary: Georgia Public Policy Foundation Editor Takes on Gubernatorial Candidates Over Virtual Education

Mike Klein, editor with the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, an an independent think tank that proposes practical, market-oriented approaches to public policy, writes “Public school education agendas proposed by the two major candidates for Georgia Governor leave wide open a hole that any running back would appreciate.”
Republican Nathan Deal and Democrat Roy Barnes put forward plans that give only slight mention to digital learning. They're overlooking a significant education priority for the state's children, according to Klein.
Education agendas from Georgia’s two major party gubernatorial candidates are politically safe proposals that seek to ensure voters the children will be in good hands and teachers could stop worrying about their pensions and furlough dates.
Klein says Georgia deserves better. The candidates’ agendas should be bolder.
Click here to read the entire article.

Guest Commentary: Principal from State of Washington Describes Pros and Cons of Online Learning

Tim Driver believes online learning is the single biggest paradigm shift facing education in the last 100 years.
He should know.
The Kirkland, Wash. principal has been in the hallways and classrooms of traditional American education for the past 20 years.
Now, he is trying virtual education. He likes what he sees, but has no illusions.
In a straight-ahead, matter-of-fact manner, Driver lists what he sees as the advantages--and disadvantages--of online schools.
His conclusion?
"After almost 20 years in a brick and mortar setting, I decided to become an online principal. I have seen both sides of it, and I decided to embrace the future."
Click here to read his entire article.

A sneak peek at the NYT Mag's 'Education and Technology' issue

There's an old adage in journalism that goes something like this: "It's news when it happens next door to the editor."

Well, the kid next door to some New York Times editor must be attending a virtual school because most of the Sept. 19 the New York Times Magazine is dedicated to the impact technology is having on education.

It's about time.

The Times is catching up with the debate, the politics, the policies, and the trends that have been at the cutting edge of the education community for more than a decade.
In great Grey Lady Fashion, the magazine coverage tries to be positive, comprehensive and folksy, in an Upper West Side of Manhattan fashion.
Here are some highlights:

• Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gives a nod of support to online education in a Question and Answer session.


• A very cool interactive timeline shows the history of classroom technology. (Anyone else remember the Bomar Brain, one of the first handheld calculators?)


• The article, "Anytime, Anywhere," makes the determination that "online courses have become a standard part of normal public education."


• Cellphones are declared to be friends, not foes, of education.


• Video games--appropriate video games--can be used as learning tools.

Lots of good reads, no matter what platform--digital or print--you use to read it.

Guest Commentary: N.C. educator on 5 things school chiefs need to do to create a digital learning environment

Dr. Donna Peters, former superintendent of North Carolina's Montgomery County Schools and North Carolina's 2010 State Superintendent of the Year, used her blog to post a digital learning action plan for school leaders.
"We all know that no one likes change but babies," she wrote. "However, the resources available to students and staff in a blended learning environment are immense, and change must happen for our students and school systems to have a chance of success in today’s complex and open world!"
Peter outlined five basic steps that school leaders must take in order to nurture an environment in which digital learning can thrive.
"The superintendent or administrator leading change for digital learning will need to intentionally create the sense of urgency (the why) and develop the vision (the what)," Peters continued. "Then, a plan must be developed for building capacity and providing the necessary resources for digital learning."
Click here to read the complete post.

Guest Commentary: Online Schooling Reshaping 21st-Century Classroom

The editorial board of the Oklahoman, which bills itself as "the most trusted news source" in Oklahoma, took a step away from the swirling controversy between a small school district that wants to create a virtual charter school and the state's Department of Education.
Instead of rehashing the same old arguments that involve Epic 1 and state education officials, the editorial acknowledges that virtual education is here to stay. What's more, it states that it's time that Oklahoma gets with it.
"A 2009 legislative task force found that the number of Oklahoma students enrolled in a full-time online program more than doubled between the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years. Those numbers will continue to rise if the recent controversies are any indication," according to the editorial.
Click here to read the entire editorial.

Rethinking Student Motivation

In Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, the book I coauthored with Clayton Christensen and Curtis Johnson, we discuss how to transform the education system to customize learning for different student needs. We are now publishing a revised and expanded edition of that award-winning book, which includes a new chapter on student motivation among other updates.
Titled Rethinking Student Motivation, this paper explores how educators can crack the code on motivating students—which is crucial for learning—through the lens of the famous “jobs to be done” concept that Christensen pioneered. We assert that schools—just like businesses that are trying to make critical connections with their customers—must seek to understand what “jobs” students are trying to accomplish in their lives and answer the question, “What job might they hire schools to do?” Our research shows that the two core “jobs” students set out to do each day are “feel successful” and “have fun with friends,” but schools often fail at integrating these core jobs into their operations. We provide insight into how schools can change to enable students
to do these jobs through project-based learning, computer-based learning, and other innovations.

Here's a taste:



"One reason why we take an assertive position in Disrupting Class on the wisdom of using computer-based learning as the mechanism for achieving student-centric learning is that by the very nature of software, achievement can be integrated with the delivery of content in ways that help students fell successful while they learn, every day. Often this come in the form of reviews or examinations that are built into the software, which require students to demonstrate mastery before they can move to the next body of material. Feedback can be delivered frequently and in bite-sized pieces, as necessary, to help each student feel successful. In traditional monolithic batch instruction, in contrast, examinations are offered every few weeks. Then, because this
system is deigned to categorize students as excellent, average and below average, it causes most students not to feel successful as they learn."



I invite you to download an adaptation of that new chapter for free from our website. To download the paper, click here.
And to learn more about the second edition of Disrupting Class visit the Amazon page here.

Guest Commentary: Massachusetts should be pioneering online education, not restricting it

Recent headlines in the Massachusetts news media hailed the arrival of the state's first statewide virtual school, the Massachusetts Virtual Academy. The school offers classes to students from throughout the state.

While the news stories make the opening of the school seem easy, the back story reveals a different tale.

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education issued ruling after ruling that have placed hurdles in front of the creation of this virtual school. The rulings may also serve as a warning to others that, at least in Massachusetts, online education in not an education reform route to take.

Two Massachusetts state representatives--Marty Walz and Will Brownsberger--wrote an opinion article for the Boston Globe in which they detail how their state can--and should--become a leader in the virtual education movement.

"In a state where digital pioneers flourished, the educational system should catch up to the students," the representative write.

Click here to read the complete article.

Guest Commentary: Oklahoma School Board Should Continue to Eye Virtual Schooling Providers

The Oklahoman Editorial Board likes virtual schools and the direction it is taking education.
But most Oklahomans are slow to accept change. Any change. That's why the editorial board advises the state's ed board to take it slow when it comes to virtual school issues.
The newspaper's editorial says it views for-profit companies that provide curriculum, instructors, and school management with some wariness. It's not that their against the for-profits, it's just that for-profit companies being so hands-on in providing classroom experiences--even online classroom experiences.
"It's OK to wade in carefully," the editorial states. "Credible providers won't mind answering all the questions officials can muster."
Read the complete editorial here.

Closing the Digital Curve

The National Journal has an Education Blog where education activists, policymakers and reformers debate issues of the day.
Recently, the blog sought responses to these questions: "In education, how can and should technology be used to close the digital gap (that is, overcoming obstacles to bring the potential of education to technology to more students) rather than exacerbate it? What can policy makers do to help advance the promise of technological benefits in the classroom?"
My response was titled, "Changing the Curve." I start the piece by saying, "Digital learning is the first chance in history to change the learning curve and extend access to quality education. Personalized digital learning is engaging students and boosting achievement."
Click here to read my entire article.
Click here to read all of the responses, including one by former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, who is now president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, and, along with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the founders to the Digital Learning Council.

Guest Commentary: The Viewpoint of a Virtual Teacher

Oregon's Jane Bartosz spent 15 years teaching in a traditional classroom. She wanted a change. So she decided to try teaching online.
She joined Oregon Connections Academy six years ago. As Bartosz puts it, "I made a choice that works for me."
It is also a choice that works for Bartosz's students.
"I'm more able to tailor my teaching to meet the individual needs of students, whether they're struggling to catch up or happen to be in the gifted category. There are weekly live lessons where I connect directly with students, and there's lots of one-on-one time over the phone and email," she writes.
There are many voices heard in the debate over virtual education. Too often, the voices of teachers are not heard.
Bartosz isn't wearing rose-colored glasses when it comes to virtual education. Still, she is positive about its future.
Read her complete post here.

10 Shifts that Change Everything

This I know. Change forces and market drivers are finally bringing the digital revolution to education. Online learning is creating new options for students. Blending online and onsite learning has the potential to improve learning and operating productivity. The digital learning revolution is creating 10 shifts in the way we learn.

Click here to read my complete post.

Guest Commentaray: Baby Ben's Blended New World--A View from a RTTT winner

When it rains, it pours. That old adage is connected to good news, too, at least it is for Bryan Setser, chief executive of the North Carolina Virtual Public School.
On Aug. 21, 2010, Setser and his wife welcomed a new son into the world--Benjamin Marcus Setser.
On Aug. 24, 2010, North Carolina was announced as one of the winners of the Race To The Top competition. The federal dollars will allow North Carolina to expand its online learning opportunities.
Setser is one of the North Carolinians who has his hand on the policy and implementation wheel to make sure the money is used effectively.
In a post from his blog "The Virtual Learning Consultant," Setser talks about welcoming his son into a "blended world," a place where digital natives blend cutting-edge technology with a firm foundation in the virtues of the society they will some day guide.
The new father and school leader says in this world, "Zip codes are not going to be a barrier for the kids of a blended generation. They’ll be able to access not only the highest quality courses and teachers in their state, but they’ll be able to access those same courses for free from places like MIT, as well as instructors from Singapore. Shouldn't we all be able to select the world’s best teachers, in the best courses, providing the best lessons, modules, or mobile apps by the time Baby Ben is in elementary school?"
Read the complete post here.

Guest Commentary: Oregon Shouldn't Limit Access to Virtual Schools

The Portland Oregonian Editorial Board said it bluntly, "A state where a quarter of the students drop out of public schools ought to have better things to do than figuring out ways to limit access" to virtual schools.
The editorial writers also wonder why "once the state is convinced that online students are receiving a quality education, why should it prevent other families from making the same choice?"
Many Oregon parents who want to enrollment their children in virtual course, but cannot because of state-imposed enrollment caps, are asking the same question.

Guest Commentary: Online Learning and the Winners of RTTT, Round 2

The District of Columbia and nine states--Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island--were named winners of second round of Race to the Top.

The winning states will split $4.35 billion. The amounts for each state will be announced later.

Earlier this year, Tennessee and Delaware won the first round of the competition. They split $600 million.

Click here to read a full report on the round two winners.

Click here for iNACOL's analysis of the online components of RTTP Round 2 finalists applications

Guest Commentary: iNACOL President talks about Utah Visit, Digital Learning Council

Susan Patrick, president and CEO of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) spoke about the benefits of online education before members of the Utah state legislature.
EdReform.com wrote about Patrick's appearance and caught up with after she had given her testimony. In this video interview, Patrick talks about the meeting, the future of virtual education, and the reception she received from the Utah legislators.She also talks about the newly-created Digital Learning Council, a diverse group of more than 50 leaders from education, government, philanthropy, business and technology who plan to develop principles and policies for digital learning. Led by two former governors, Jeb Bush from Florida and Bob Wise
of West Virgina, want to move virtual education to the forefront of the education reform movement.
Patrick, who is among the virtual movement leaders to sign the council's mission statement, said she is thrilled that the Digital Learning Council will address education "policies that need to be changed" for the digital age.

What I'm Reading

Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute set a record--three posts this week worth commenting on. He's not always the first, not always popular, but more often than not makes me think.
Two of his posts deal with the virtual education movement.
To read my complete post, and the links to Rick's articles, click here.

The Education Breakthrough Network

In addition to being a contributor to the Liberating Learning Blog, I have been working on an exciting new project, the Education Breakthrough Network.

We want our website to be a place where you can find people like yourself--people engaged in creating excellence in American education.

We are people of all political parties, all cultures and social backgrounds, all faiths, and all ethnicities. What binds us together is our belief in the

power of education.

Here is a brief video of an interview I did in which I talk about the Education Breakthrough Network. Take a look and please take a look at the website.

My Virtual Schools Op-ed that was Banned in Boston

A few weeks ago, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education established a series of restrictions that are sure to slow the growth of any virtual schools that open in that state.
The board voted to cap enrollment of online schools at 500 students. It also requires that 25 percent of the online school's students live in the district operating the school.
I wrote an op-ed about this misguided decision and submitted it to the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. Neither paper chose to publish it.
Here is a link to the article. Read it and tell me what you think. Let me know why you think the Globe and the Herald were afraid to publish this.

Guest Commentary: Race to the Top & Online Learning

Presentations from the 19 finalists in the Race to the Top competition started this week.
If you use the first round as a gauge, Round 2 winners should be announced on Aug. 23. This is a guess.
The International Association for K-12 Learning (iNACOL) has done a great service by compiling the online learning initiatives proposed by each of the finalists. Here is a link to the iNACOL look at online learning in the applications

Guest Commentary: Bugets crises, tech could put an end to the 'Little Red Schoolhouse'

Susan Colby and Caitrin Moran Wright of Bridgespan Group, a non-profit strategy consulting firm, wrote a smart blog post for Edutopia.
In their article, Colby and Wright say the technology-led teaching and learning innovations may be inside the silver lining in the budget reductions so many school districts are facing because of the economic downturn.
Schools may be forced to turn to virtual classes that foster personalized learning because district can no longer afford "the solitary school marm" who stands in front of a classroom "filled with 25 to 30 students." Click here to read complete post.

Will Oregon's Virtual Charter Schools Survive?

This is a good question that Oregonians need to think about and answer.

For more than a year, Oregon's virtual charter schools have been under attack. The state's largest teachers union, the Oregon Education Association, supported a legislative bill with restrictions so tough, that if fully adopted, the state's virtual charters could have been put out of business.

The legislature did approve restrictions, including enrollment caps, but did not go as far as the teachers union wanted. Still, the future for the virtual charters is uncertain.

I take a detailed look at what is going on in Oregon, including the OEA's list of suggested regulations for virtual charters it recently submitted to the Oregon State Board of Education.

Guest Commentary: Indiana Teachers Says 'Let's Embrace Online Education'

Teacher Andrea O'Neal is blunt. She's "not crazy about online schools."
But she gets it.
Instead of being afraid of change, O'Neal tells fellow educators they should embrace change.
"Our schools don't always work as they should and for a variety of reasons students don't always have access to a classroom," O'Neal writes. "Online education should be embraced as one more option for families on a menu of choices."
Read all of Andrea O'Neal's article here.

Guest Commentary: Putting Virtue into Virtual School

Jim Stergios blogs on all things education for Boston.com in the "Rocking the Schoolhouse" blog.
Right now he's on the frontlines watching Massachusetts grapple with finding ways to fully fund what may be the state's first state-led virtual school, the Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield. The school is scheduled to open this fall.
He also has some strong words about restrictions a state education board placed on the virtual school's enrollment.
Stergios believes the Massachusetts bureaucracy needs to "stop protecting the status quo" and start seeing the virtue in virtual schools. Click here to read his post.

Guest Commentary: The Coming Debate Over K-12 Virtual Charter Schools

June Anh, writing for the June 16, 2010 Teacher's College Record, has a strong piece that looks at virtual charter schools and some of the issues that may surround the future of these schools.
Contrary to wildly-held beliefs, Anh says, students who attend virtual charters are not chained in front of computers all day. Many participate in a blended form of education, participating in face-to-face instruction and distance instruction.
Anh adds that today virtual charters exist in a wild west atmosphere. This will rapidly change as this form of online education continues to expand. Few states have "explicit policies to govern cyber charters, and those states that allow (cyber charter schools) ... numerous policy concerns remain under-developed." Anh provides a list of issues that virtual charters well may have to face in the future--and also provides a road map on actions to take so the virtual charter movement continues to expand.
Anh's commentary is well-worth reading.

Learning online: Two views

I recently wrote two articles for EdReform.com about online learning.

The first discusses the difficult in providing facts and figures about how many students are involved in online learning.

The second article calls on interest groups to take a step back and let change happen.

Two articles that share an author, and a bottom line: change is coming.

Guest Commentary: The Children Are Our Future: So Why Aren’t They Learning Online?

Michael Wille, a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation, picks up on some of the buzz going on in the distance learning opinion arena, including an article by Liberating Learning Blog Contributor Tom Vander Ark.
Willie's conclusion: The best solution to see improved student performance anywhere in the country is to support policy options that promote parental choice in education. Virtual learning is opening the doors of learning to many students and should not go offline. Read more here.

Mass. "Innovation" Regulations Block True Innovation

Worst online learning law in America. That's what I wrote about this month's action by a Massachusetts state board's action that places restrictions on virtual schools that want to open in that state.


As the incoming chair of the International Association of K-12 Online learning (iNACOL), I am insulted by this dramatic assault on parent/student choice. Please read my entire blog entry on this matter.


Also, please take time to read the letter written by Susan Patrick, the director of iNACOL wrote to the comission of this Massachusetts education board

Guest Commentary: California Edtech Money Sits on Sidelines as Legislators Bicker

This editorial from the Sacramento Bee hits the nail on the head.

It is ironic that the home state of Silicon Valley cannot figure out a way to divide federal stimulus so that local school districts can acquire technology to improve classroom teaching.

California is the only state that has not distributed this money.

Yes, it's a shame.

Guest Commentary: Teachers Unions vs. Online Education

Katharine Mangu-Ward has a smart article the August/September issue of Reason magazine. In it, she gives a strong overview of the online learning movement and why teachers unions have put up so many hurdles to expanding the use of electronic teaching tools.


Mangu-Ward's conclusion: Teachers unions are consistently among the biggest donors to U.S. election campaigns. The National Education Association can buy and sell elections, but a continuous flow of membership dues will be tougher to come by if online education blooms.

In her article, Mangu-Ward extensively quotes Liberating Learning blog contributor Ton Vander Ark.

Mangu-Ward's bottom line: "We can't teachers unions to allow only one version of online education to squeak by."

Can Parents Help Turn Schools Around?

I participated in an online debate for the National Journal. The subject: What role should parents play in school reform?

The first step toward increasing parental participation is to allow parents to choose the kind of school--be it virtual or bricks-and-mortar, charter or neighborhood--their children will attend. Read all of my response to the National Journal's education debate question.

Guest Commentary: It’s Time for a Latino Online Education Revolution

Don Soifer, executive vice president of the Lexington Institute, for Latino children and their families, "an online learning revolution could hardly come at a better time."

Today two in five Latino eighth graders continue to score at miserable “below basic” levels on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, Soifer writes.

How can online learning help Latino students mired in failing schools? "For starters, high-quality online (or online hybrid) programs provide teachers with continuous verification of individual students’ content mastery, allowing them to specialize instruction to their particular needs. Such efficiency in instruction, which can already be found in the best classrooms in the best schools, can make a world of difference," says Soifer.

Soifer is right that using new technology as an educational tool can help to change young lives.

Guest Commentary: Georgia parents angry at state’s policies on virtual high schools

The Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education has a right to be disgusted with its state’s education policy makers.

In June, the state Charter School Commission rejected a petition from Georgia Cyber Academy to allow the school to offer high school classes. The reasons? Because the commission believed the cyber academy did not meet state performance benchmarks in math and because the school allowed a teacher to serve on the governing board.

The commission did vote earlier this month to allow two new virtual schools to begin enrolling high school students this fall. But last week, commission officials said, both schools decided to postpone their opening after determining the funding they received was inadequate.

The Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education sees this reversal in another way. According to a statement it issued, the two cyber high schools were “were forced to withdrawal due to low and unfair funding from the state.”

"It is concerning that two new online schools set to provide high-level education to Georgia students are forced to close because the state refuses to uphold a law providing equal funding for virtual schools," said Rene Lord, chairman of the Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education.

There is still time to get these cyber academies on track to open this fall. The Georgia Cyber Academy can amend its current charter to allay those governance concerns and, if the state board approves an amended petition in August, the school would become the first and only virtual school offering high school classes.

The Georgia Families for Public Virtual Education should continue its push for full funding of the two virtual high schools. State policy makers should do what it takes to get these virtual schools ready for this fall’s crop of high school students.

Education As We Know It Is Finished

Clayton M. Christensen, my co-author on Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and I teamed up again to write a article for Forbes.com.

In the piece, we look at the angst many districts are experiencing this summer—teacher layoffs, budget cuts, and a future of smaller revenue streams because of a reduction in property taxes, an outgrowth of the housing bust.

But out of the pain, there may be some gain. For example, the people who run many schools realize that they can save considerably by cutting back on traditional classroom versions of non-core courses--advanced placement, foreign language, economics and so forth--and instead offer them online, thereby aggregating demand across many school districts. Likewise they can cut back on the number of periods during which they offer certain classroom courses and still offer affordable methods to meet student demand by offering those courses online.

We hope that there will be some gain from this pain.

Guest Commentary: Ohio Editorial Calls for Policymakers to Follow Georgia’s Lead

Frustrated over Ohio’s slow acceptance of digital learning (there is a moratorium on creation of new state online schools), in an editorial, the Akron Beacon-Journal tells readers Ohio should look to Georgia for leadership.

“Georgia is committed to helping new high-quality virtual schools open. The state realizes this sector is evolving rapidly, and new great school models are being developed continuously ...

“As Georgia illustrates, the state can expand innovative programming for its students while also maintaining smart accountability.”

Guest commentary: Indiana newspaper praises shift to elearning

The editorial board of the Evansville Courier & Press reports that only a year ago "a dissatisfied public was demanding" that the local school board "do more to elevate the academic performance of its students."

The district took on the challenge, and according to a Courier & Press editorial, thanks to a new virtual academy, the "the public has been getting just what it demanded, through nontraditional programs and an infusion of modern technological tools."

More proof that when technology is paired with education the results are positive.

3 Eras of Education

Here’s a good quick read: Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America (Teachers College, 2009), Allan Collins & Richard Halverson.

In my edReformer post, I created a chart that summarizes the current industrial-era education, what was before, and what’s next. Tell me what you think.

House ed bill favors more of the same rather than change

In the last few days, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to spend $10 billion to prevent teacher layoffs and, in effect, to allow our current failed school system to maintain the status quo.

In a sign that the leaders of this initiative, Representative David Obey and others prefer the status quo over changing the system, the bill cuts $800 million from the President’s key reform initiatives, such as Race to the Top.

Not that Race to the Top is the end all be all—it’s not—but spending money we don’t have to support an antiquated school system built to operate like a factory is far worse.

The budgetary crises into which all schools are plunging have created the opportunity for long-needed changes.

Although many schools have framed these looming cuts as a threat to the way they operate—despite the fact that the teaching force has grown 10 percent since 2000 even as student enrollment only increased five percent—others are seeing this as an opportunity to transform their model through the implementation of online learning.

But by pumping borrowed money in to maintain the status quo, we’re merely allowing our schools the luxury of avoiding these changes. This comes at a steep price. Charging education isn’t changing it.

While U.S. schools stand still, the rest of the world is moving forward, and this has a price tag — not just for individual children, but also for the nation.

President Obama has promised to veto the bill if it comes to his desk. If it does, he’ll be right to do so.

Guest commentary: The new classroom--online education and charter schools

You say you want an education revolution? Well you know, Gisèle Huff, chairman of the Innosight Institute, agrees with you. Recently she wrote, “We need to revolutionize the way our children learn; we can do that by harnessing the technology we already have at our disposal.”

In an op-ed for “The Hill,” Huff says, “Making technology an integral part of the curriculum and redefining the role of the teacher would lead to disruptive innovations.”

Huff got it right. Technology is one of the keys to better and more effective schools.

State Leadership Needed

The money should follow the students.

That’s right, I’m advocating for weighted funding that follows students to the best educational option (including those online).

Charter schools, often robbed of local funding, deserve the same weighted funding as well as access to public facilities or facilities funding. And, with the expansion and improvement of online learning, it is vital that “money follows the kid” be extended to the course level.
I explained my position is a pithy article for the National Journal

Oregon Board of Education Continues to Look at Virtual Charter School Issue

Oregon parents voiced their frustration to the state Board of Education about hurdles local school districts appear to be placing in front of children who want to participate in the Oregon Virtual Academy.

Parents told the board that is difficult to get the required release from the local school district so their children can enroll in the virtual school.

What’s more, parents must reapply for the release every year they choose to keep their children in the virtual school. They said some districts have denied reenrollment permission even after a child, who struggled in a traditional school, has shown improvement in the virtual school.

Watch the parents’ testimony and the board’s response. One interesting note: the board’s chairman said “virtual charter schools could become a more front-and-center issue in Oregon’s education policy in the next 5 to 7 years.”

The move to online classrooms

In 2008, when Liberating Learning Blog contributor Michael B. Horn, co-author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, began promoting his book, people told him that he was nuts to say that “by 2019” projections show “50 percent of all high school courses will be online.”

Something happened. A few months later, people told Horn he was nuts because the 2019 date was “way too conservative.” Change, he was told, was happening a lot faster than he and his co-author realized.

This wide-ranging, 2009 discussion is part of San Diego-based High Tech High School’s Graduate School of Education “Education Unboxed Speaker Series.” In the video, Horn talks about how online learning, hybrid education models and how online learning is a big opportunity to get effective teachers to the right student.

Guest Commentary: Taking sides in the distance learning debate

Education Week writer Ian Quillen acknowledges that when he started covering the education and technology, “I entered this beat assuming most supporters of online education would fall into the progressive/liberal camp.”

His assumptions were short-lived.


Quillen found that distance learning has its advocates—and some distracters—on both ends of the political spectrum. In an essay on EdWeek’s “Digital Directions” blog, Quillen tries to sort it all out.

Guest Commentary: A Schoolhouse of One

Brainy but easily distracted, The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates barely made it through high school and dropped out of college. Would a program like New York City’s School of One, which uses technology to tailor lessons to each student’s learning style and pace, have made a difference for him?

After examining the public-private partnership that is bringing online learning to a growing number of NYC students, Coates walked away persuaded that technology—along with cutting edge teaching methods—can change the academic lives of children.

Guest Commentary: Developing a Public Agenda for Virtual Learning

Bill Tucker of Education Sector posted an analysis, complete with videos, on “Developing a Public Agenda for Virtual Learning.” This is the kind of reasoned discussion that deserves to be widely read.

Tucker notes that “virtual learning continues to experience explosive growth. It holds the potential to help address many of our nation's most pressing educational issues.”

He adds, that with all of this growth, “there are troubling signs that virtual learning may not transform American education, but instead replicate many of its worst features … The question is not whether virtual learning will grow, but how?”

Check out his commentary and watch one of the videos that go with the article.

Florida's Leadership in Transforming Education Should be a Model

Florida can build on its early leadership in the virtual schooling movement to create an entirely new education system that is affordable and student-centric.

The policy brief I wrote for The James Madison Institute, a Florida-based research and educational organization, has lessons for all policymakers well beyond the boundaries of Florida. The brief describes how our public education system, designed for the industrial economy, is quite ill-suited to teach all students the higher-order skills necessary for success in today’s knowledge-based economy. By embracing online learning as a holistic strategy for transforming education—not a small item on the education menu—states can bring about a more student-centric system in which each student has access to a marketplace of affordable, high-quality, individually tailored education options.


You can read the executive summary as well as download the full policy brief by clicking here: Virtual Schooling: Talking Points

Q&A with Connections Academy CEO

Gus Sentementes covers digital technology and innovation for the Baltimore Sun. He recently turned his attention to distance learning. Sentementes interviews Connections Academy CEO Barbara Dreyer. This Maryland-based company specializes in K-12 online education and, as of fall 2009, had programs in 17 states.

The irony is there isn’t a Connections Academy in Maryland. The explosive growths of online education, plus the future of Connections Academy in its home state, are just a few of the topics Sentementes and Dreyer discuss.

Former Michigan Schools Chief Hails Era of e-learning

Tom Watkins and served as Michigan's state superintendent of schools from 2001-2005. Now an education and business consultant in the U.S. and China, Watkins takes a look at virtual education in the state he once served.

He likes what he sees. Watkins says Michigan, which has the second largest state-wide virtual education program after Florida, must continue to innovate. In his opinion column, Watkins says that e-learning will lead the way

6 Reasons School Districts are Attracted to Virtual Schools

More U.S. school districts are embracing virtual schools.

There are lots of reasons for this seismic shift.

Virtual schools can offer students at all levels classes that meet their needs. School districts strapped for cash can offer remedial and advanced courses and stay within budget. Virtual schools allow traditional school districts a new way to increase—or retain—enrollment.

Dawn Nordine, director of the Wisconsin Web Academy/Wisconsin Virtual School, provides six solid reasons for virtual schools when she makes presentations to school groups. Here is a report on her presentation.

Ensuring Every Student has Access to Online Learning

Susan Patrick, president and chief executive of the iNACOL, the international association for K-12 online learning, writes, "In an era of shrinking budgets and with an increasing need for students to be globally-competitive, online and blended learning solutions are expanding student access to high-quality courses and programs."

She's right.

From the rural ranches in Idaho to gritty urban schoolyards in the Northeast, kids who once could only dream of having access to advanced math and lit classes, now how these educational opportunities at the click of a power up switch.

Technology is changing education, Patrick says. "Online learning is expanding access to courses in K-12 education and providing a new network of highly qualified teachers to schools and students in under served communities."

Read more of Patrick's essay that was first published by the Computer Using Educators of BC.