The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers has taken a bold action to help restore autonomy to the professionals in teaching -- the teachers. This month the MFT, supported by a grant from the American Federation of Teachers, became the first teachers union in the country to open a charter school authorizer.
We're proud to release our new "inventory of schools with teacher autonomy." Browse all such schools, nationwide -- either in a list form or on a map. And, see our definition of what constitutes "teacher autonomy," and the various arrangements with states, districts and unions which allow for this autonomy.
Innovative Quality Schools (IQS) is a new chartered school authorizer to open in Minnesota this year. They will focus on authorizing schools that innovate with respect to instructional model, staffing and leadership design, evaluation method, or some other aspect.
This March, IQS issued its first Request for Proposals, asking any organization in the world to submit proposals for new chartered public schools for Minnesota students.
Unsustainable, a new book by EE associate Tim R. McDonald, argues that with costs rising as they are, the only sustainable solution to K-12 financial troubles is to redesign school to increase productivity. Amongst other things, this redesign will involve innovative use of technology.
Boards and superintendents, legislators and governors are about to feel the big push for "Digital Learning Now". This will appeal. 'Digital' carries the potential to improve learning. But, going digital will be a challenge.
Recently in the Wall Street Journal and Education Next there have been accounts of the origins of chartering. Gradually the history is coming right. We thought we might take the liberty of adding our version, since the first legislative implementation of the idea occurred in Minnesota and a number of those now in Education|Evolving were involved.
In Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, E|E partner Curtis Johnson and co-authors Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School and Michael Horn of Innosight Institute discuss how to transform the education system to customize learning for different student needs.
Publisher McGraw-Hill has recently released a revised and expanded edition of the award-winning book, including a new chapter on student motivation. We are pleased to announce the release of an adaptation of that new chapter, Rethinking Student Motivation, available for free download.
The idea of organizing 'school' as a professional partnership has now hit the national media. The New York Times had a front-page story last week about teachers in New Jersey. The Christian Science Monitor had a piece earlier about the teacher-led school in Denver.
This will cause discussion. What is this idea? Can it possibly work? There are a couple things to clarify, quickly.
It's suggested these days that with 'evidence' showing us 'what works' the debate about how-to-improve school and learning is basically over . . . that all that's needed now is the political will to do it. Yet others sense that new developments are throwing the conventional certainties up in the air; that the situation today is (to borrow a term from military strategy) "volatile, uncertain, chaotic and ambiguous".
At the annual retreat of the Knowledge Alliance August 3, in Albuquerque, one of Education|Evolving's associates, Ted Kolderie, pointed out some serious and fundamental problems in the education-policy discussion and with the nation's effort at improvement.