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.