If learning ultimately depends upon effort put forth by students, then the motivation of a student is central. The Hope Survey is a different way of looking at assessment. It measures student perceptions of autonomy, belonging, and goal orientation—seeking to diagnose whether a school culture has the components that encourage higher levels of engagement in learning.
Yet research shows engagement and motivation decreases as students progress through...
Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.
Fraser Speirs is a software developer and teaches computing at Cedars School of Excellence, an ‘independent’ (non-publicly funded) all ages school in the UK. He maintains a blog and recently wrote about bringing iPads into...
Critics have descended on the "Investing in Innovation" ("i3") program of the U.S. Department of Education. Most argue it's financing not innovation but the replication of old innovations. In a talk August 3 to the Knowledge Alliance, E|E's Ted Kolderie explained why 'continuous improvement' alone is unsound policy; why sound policy does require true innovation – followed, of course, by “improvement”.
The LA Times story evaluating teacher performance has reignited debate about whether testing students is a suitable way to measure teacher success. NPR has covered it extensively, as have most major periodicals. As the debate rages, prominent researchers have stepped out to...
Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.
Will Fowler is program director at the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco (AFSF). In this guest post he describes how a partnership between AFSF and San Francisco Unified School District to create opportunities to engage students, and to allow them to demonstrate expanded forms of achievement.
In 2004, The Architectural Foundation of San Francisco...
Earlier this month Tom Vander Ark of EdReformer argued the iPad will bring more innovation than the i3 grant program, and there has been much talk about their potential for learning.
Now Chicago Public Schools is beginning to move on use of the iPad,...
The senior vice president of retail for Apple Computer Ron Johnson recently described to the Civic Caucus, a Minnesota policy group, how Apple successfully brings thousands of customers each year from inexperience to proficiency with their software, for a relatively small cost.
In the One-to-One program, for one hundred dollars per year customers get one hour per week with a Mac...
Editor’s note: Each Friday we feature guest bloggers that are involved in rethinking what is possible with schooling and the education system.
Laura Weeldreyer is deputy chief of staff for the Superintendent of Baltimore City Public Schools. In this guest post, pushing against a recent report from the Fordham Foundation, Weeldreyer describes the reasoning behind that district’s move to create conditions inside the district that provide more autonomy to innovative schools and...
Here’s another good opportunity for school entrepreneurs:
The Mind Trust is an Indianapolis-based incubator program for individuals with visions to remake schooling. They award competitive fellowships to help individuals with ideas and the talent to develop their ideas and bring them to reality.
Those selected for fellowships receive a full salary for two years and a stipend for the start-up phase...
How does change happen in a large system?
Michael Lind wrote in the Washington Post last month that comprehensive reform is overrated. In it he talks about the tendency of D.C. policy makers toward large, grand many-step plans in health care, financial reform, and energy legislation—when instead the right approach may instead be much less heavy, and more strategic.
The root of his argument is that large systems are complex, and their behavior is the result of...
