http://www.ednetinsight.com en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Central by Imulus (http://imulus.com) info@ednetinsight.com http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/common-core-assessment--an-exciting-opportunity-and-a-looming-challenge.html Race to the Top has funded two consortia—PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) and SBAC (SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium)—to develop “next-generation” K–12 Common Core assessment systems to replace the individual state standards and assessments that currently exist. What do educators think about Common Core assessments and the impact they’ll have on schools and districts? The reactions are mixed and complicated. They are both positive and wary, but they suggest a major upheaval in the near future that too many school systems are unprepared to deal with. First, the good news. Assessment will be narrower but deeper. The emphasis is not on student recall of information; rather students must interpret and apply knowledge and skills to new settings and situations. It’s about transfer, rather than simple acquisition of knowledge and skills. ]]> Friday, May 11, 2012 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/common-core-assessment--an-exciting-opportunity-and-a-looming-challenge.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/we-can-t-wait-another-year-for-a-new-esea.html For nearly five years, school leaders around the country have urged Congress to make dramatic changes to the No Child Left Behind law. We’re now reaching a critical point where too many schools are being unfairly penalized, community support is undermined, and we’re forced to sacrifice vital subjects that engage students to focus on state tests. ]]> Friday, April 13, 2012 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/we-can-t-wait-another-year-for-a-new-esea.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-transition-to-digital-content-and-textbooks.html As you no doubt know, we have been working over the past three years to create a space for education technology that is both integrated and expanded. One key to our success is for all of us to share in the articulation of the potential and the challenges of the transition to digital. Embedded in this article are some key messages that we can continue to fine-tune in order to increase understanding and inspire action. ]]> Friday, March 16, 2012 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-transition-to-digital-content-and-textbooks.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-gateway-to-21st-century-skills.html About The Gateway to 21st Century Skills - The JES & Co. team has launched a revamped Gateway to 21st Century Skills (Gateway), one of the oldest digital libraries containing thousands of educational resources ranging from activities to online projects. Improvements to the Gateway include Facebook integration, rating and commenting, and correlation to the Common Core State Standards. The Gateway’s resources have been contributed by 700 quality organizations and serve educators in 178 countries, and its use continues to be free of charge. Originally funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Gateway is now sponsored by the National Education Association. ]]> Friday, February 17, 2012 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-gateway-to-21st-century-skills.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/addressing-the-digital-divide-within.html Recently, our district distributed iPads to our principals to support the new Tennessee teacher evaluation program. The iPads will allow our principals and other administrators who conduct teacher evaluations to input data and remarks and record the lesson with pictures and video clips as they conduct classroom observations. During the process of distributing the iPads to administrators, we were surprised to find that some of our principals and administrators said they do not have personal email accounts and some did not even know how to log in to their work accounts—their administrative assistants manage the task of reviewing and answering daily emails. ]]> Friday, January 20, 2012 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/addressing-the-digital-divide-within.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/what-is-the-right-test--br-toward-individualized-instruction--the-evolving-nature-of-assessment.html More than 50% of students entering high school are two or more years behind in at least one subject on meeting the academic grade-level standards, less than 40% are proficient, and only 5% are advanced. What do we do about the more than 50% of students who are missing the necessary prerequisite skills to master their current standards? Good instructional leaders have a vision of individualizing instruction to meet the needs of individual students. Unfortunately, they lack the assessment and diagnostic tools to make this vision a reality. Assessments are the tools used to address student improvement. They range from “thermometers” that tell us what standards a student has mastered or not mastered to diagnostic tools that identify skill strengths and deficiencies, and they provide materials to teach missing skills so that standards can be mastered. ]]> Friday, December 09, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/what-is-the-right-test--br-toward-individualized-instruction--the-evolving-nature-of-assessment.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-promise-of-the-common-core-.html Common Core State Standards are anything but common. Never in our nation’s history have we had a set of common learning expectations for English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics—K-12 articulated standards that have now been adopted by 47 states. These standards represent a readiness for college and careers that we must ensure all students graduating from our high schools attain to be successful. This is powerful and has the potential to move public education off the dime and student learning to new heights. The promise of Common Core will be realized only if … ]]> Friday, November 04, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-promise-of-the-common-core-.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/lms--the-delivery-platform-for-digital-education-br--i--what-is-it-and-how-many-are-there---i-.html LMSs, learning management systems, are the platforms that deliver digital content, which makes them a very critical app in the transformation from print to digital delivery. Still in their early stages, they offer the potential for individualized learning plans and customized instruction for all students based on need, learning style, and ability. The biggest problem with LMS is that the term means different things to different people. As the market matured, LMS technology changed and new functions were added, but the term remained the same. “LMS” is now used to describe a very broad range of functionality. ]]> Friday, October 07, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/lms--the-delivery-platform-for-digital-education-br--i--what-is-it-and-how-many-are-there---i-.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/mobile-devices--the-new-education-backpack.html Is this the 80s all over again? Are mobile devices a silver bullet that will fail to support education results, or are they the platform for a disruptive breakthrough in education improvement? The use of mobile devices is changing so rapidly that it is hard for education decision makers to know what to purchase or for publishers to know what to produce. In this blog posting, we provide a perspective for decision makers in schools, technology, and publishing on the current state of devices and what they can expect in the coming year. ]]> Friday, September 02, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/mobile-devices--the-new-education-backpack.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/happy-new-year-.html Happy New Year! No, you have not lost track of time. New Year’s Day is still celebrated on January 1—unless you work in education. Then the “New Year” begins in August with most students returning in August or September. Students come to school with renewed energy and a determination to make this year be their best year, and educators return fresh from training, vacations, and planning in order to make this year their best year as well. Just like during New Year’s celebrations, educators make New Year’s Resolutions, things that will determine their focus for the year to come. As our “New Year” kicks off, and we in education hope to make this our best year ever, here is a list of New Year’s Resolutions for the 2011-2012 school year. ]]> Friday, August 05, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/happy-new-year-.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/tech-ideal-vs--the-real-classroom.html We’ve all seen wish lists of what teachers want in digital resources and technology. We’ve all read the increasingly voluminous studies of what educators, in aggregate, have in their classrooms, schools, and districts. But what, though, are they actually doing? ]]> Friday, July 08, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/tech-ideal-vs--the-real-classroom.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/ed-tech-trends-2011.html This blog article, reprinted from the BLEgroup’s internal web community, describes the trends that were seen in the group’s panels at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) Annual Convention and Exposition, which was held in Austin, Texas last February. Read on for some interesting insights on emerging trends and products that embody these trends from the perspective of practicing ed tech professionals. ]]> Friday, June 10, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/ed-tech-trends-2011.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/lest-we-forget-the-littlest-learners-.html The age of accountability is in full bloom, and the success or failure of K-12 public schools everywhere is often established by a single assessment score or graduation rate. Educators are continually working to seek ways to support both the professional development of teachers as well as the implementation of strategies to support student learners. Meanwhile, the era of slashing budgets is an ongoing story across the country. The reality of growing deficits, larger classrooms, and limited resources—all with unchanging expectations—wreaks havoc in many schools and districts. ]]> Friday, May 13, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/lest-we-forget-the-littlest-learners-.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/What_Should_the_Education_Industry_Advise.html On March 2, 2011, Arne Duncan joined a group of moderate Democratic Senators at Walker Jones Education Campus in Washington, D.C., to tour the K-8 school and call for education reform through the re-authorization of ESEA, Title I. One of the visitors, Senator Michael Bennet (D. Colorado), former Superintendent of Schools in Denver, Colorado, said, “We know the results of doing nothing, and they are catastrophic. The time for bold action is now.” ]]> Friday, March 18, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/What_Should_the_Education_Industry_Advise.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/investing-in-education---investing-for-our-future.html Education programs and institutions at all levels, from PreK through graduate-level education, are facing the most challenging fiscal environment in decades. Educators and education institutions face a triple whammy... ]]> Friday, February 18, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/investing-in-education---investing-for-our-future.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/growth-spaces--how-teachers-find-triumph.html I sat across from Rachel in a local coffee shop. We'd finished coffee, lunch, and now dessert. Rachel had been in my own classes when she was in high school. After college, she taught English down the hall from me. And now she'd moved to Denver, taking on a middle school placement in an urban district. She was half out of her chair to put on her coat when she asked, "What do you think makes an effective teacher? What does Sarah Wessling think?" As she sat back down, I thought this isn't the kind of question you end a conversation with. But it was the question the past two hours had been leading up to. ]]> Friday, January 21, 2011 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/growth-spaces--how-teachers-find-triumph.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/An E-Rate Rock.html The E-rate program is beneficial to many of the nation’s schools and libraries but by its nature is tedious and caulked full of ambiguous regulations. The FCC Sixth Report and Order attempted to alleviate some of the burden by streamlining the applications process and, at the same time, combating program fraud, waste, and abuse. While the jury remains out on the benefit of the changes, one thing that is evident is the rise of more questions regarding the new tedious and ambiguous regulations. ]]> Friday, December 10, 2010 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/An E-Rate Rock.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/glrc--semantic-web-technologies-allow-global-navigation-of-learning-resources.html Education is moving into the second decade of the 21 st century looking very much as it did throughout the 20 th century—a localized effort. But society has changed, becoming more mobile, more global, more connected. With the emergence of the Semantic Web (often referred to as Web 3.0) comes the ability to connect education systems that until recently only served populations associated with a particular physical location. Just as the interstate highway system in the United States was designed to both facilitate future interstate commerce across a network of federated jurisdictions as well as to support the immediate strategic goals of the day, so should we develop education systems to support both our immediate educational goals and the future needs of a populace that must continuously learn in order to stay competitive in a continuously changing world. ]]> Friday, November 05, 2010 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/glrc--semantic-web-technologies-allow-global-navigation-of-learning-resources.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/learning-powered-by-technology.html What is learning powered by technology? The vision and model of learning articulated in the National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, was informed by the ideas, case studies, research, and involvement of thousands of teachers, parents, students, researchers, professors, and policymakers. The model posits that in order to transform American education, we need to leverage modern technologies to create a massively customized, superpowered learning environment tuned for this generation of students. ]]> Friday, October 08, 2010 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/learning-powered-by-technology.html http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/make-it-so-putting-plans-into-action.html I just returned from a two-day workshop with our state’s twelve 21st Century Classroom Grants more rejuvenated about the future of Arizona’s students than ever before. The theme of the workshop was “Make It So…Putting Plans Into Action.” ]]> Friday, September 10, 2010 http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/make-it-so-putting-plans-into-action.html