Guest Commentary: A Look at Schools of the Future from Education Next

The Rocketship vision.
Combing "face-to-face" education in a specific place with online instruction. That's the Rocketship vision. It is remarkably successful.
Rocketship Education is a non-profit elementary charter school network dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap by using a hybrid education model. Rocketship uses the term "hybrid"
which is interchangeable with the more common term "blended learning."
Rocketship is building a model in which kids learn much of their basic skills through online technology. This leaves classroom teachers free to focus on critical-thinking instruction and to provide extra help where kids are struggling.
Teachers are able to “prescribe” online attention to specific skills. Part of the model involves providing teachers with a steady stream of data that will help them adjust instruction to kids’ specific needs, and to guide after school tutors.
In an article in the Summer 2011 issue of Education Next, Jonathan Schorr and Deborah McGriff, partners at NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm that supports entrepreneurial innovation to improve public education for low-income children,
report the rise of blended learning is coming at a time when the public is increasingly open to online learning.
One example in the growth of acceptance to virtual education the authors cite is a speech, by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. He noted that a loss of housing valuation meant that
education funds are down sharply and aren’t coming back anytime soon. In the spirit of never wasting a crisis, he said he hoped the difficult financial straits would help bring an end to “the factory model of education” and an increase in productivity in schools. He
said, “Our schools must prepare all students for college and careers—and do far more to personalize instruction and employ the smart use of technology.”
Click here to get a sneak peek of Education Next's "Future Schools: Blending face-to-face and online learning."
Click here to read Liberating Learning blog contributor Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker's guide to the landscape in their 2011 paper, “The Rise of K–12 Blended Learning.”