Disrupting Class Means Future Change for School System, Teacher Unions
So with this new year of 2010, I’m really thinking all futuristic. Yesterday it was brain skills testing. But what about technological changes that promise to transform our education system?
That’s what Harvard professor Clayton Christensen writes about in his 2009 book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. If you […]
Merry Christmas: Ending 2009 on a Positive Education Reform Note
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2010 to my mom, a few random basement-dwellers, and the handful of my other regular readers … I will be back on this space on January 4! (Yes, that’s a picture of the world-record largest Lego Christmas tree from Oberhausen, Germany, in 2003. Can you imagine how many presents […]
How Far Will Colorado Reform “Human Capital” to Win Race to the Top?
Education leaders here in Colorado have shown a great deal of interest in the federal Race to the Top dollars, a multi-billion dollar program that we are told is designed to spur reform. In order to be eligible for rewards, states will be rated according how well their policies and goals line up with innovative […]
Colorado Still Strong in Charter School Law, But There’s Room to Improve
Every year the Center for Education Reform rates the quality of different states’ charter school laws based on their flexibility and equity. This week they released the new edition, and the news again is good for Colorado — one of only 13 states with “strong laws that do not require significant revisions.”
But I’m never satisfied […]
As Bad Schools Close, Milwaukee’s Voucher Market Shows It’s Working
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports some interesting developments in that city’s nearly two decades old voucher program (H/T Joanne Jacobs).
Four Milwaukee voucher schools — including the fast-growing independent Atlas Preparatory Academy — now have more than 750 students each. More than 21,000 students total are enrolled in 111 voucher schools this year. But what’s really […]
Real Alternative Certification May Actually Help Boost Student Learning
I’ve told you before about groups like ABCTE that are reaching out to top-notch professionals and making it easier for them to make an effective transition into classroom teaching. But where’s the proof this is a good idea for the bottom line of education?
In the new edition of Education Next, Daniel Nadler and Paul Peterson […]
Hoping Race to the Top Spurs Colorado Funding, Teacher, STEM Innovations
Katie Redding at the Colorado Independent reported yesterday on the official recommendations for Colorado’s application to receive Race to the Top federal reform dollars. One of my Education Policy Center friends got a chance to chime in:
Ben DeGrow, education policy analyst for the free-market Independence Institute, found much to like about the application, particularly the […]