As Zuckerberg points at a particular state and calls for start ups, the question raises: Where are the entrepreneurs? There will be people that can come in from the outside, surely. But as with technological innovation, may we assume improvement in schooling can also be driven by the ‘users’?
In this guest post Nick Mathern of Gateway to College describes an attempt to reduce dropout rates by allowing prospective dropouts to move into post-secondary education sooner. Gateway to College helps potential high school dropouts to earn a high school diploma while also earning college credits.
Recently there has been discussion in the national press about the reduction of students in the special education category labeled "Learning Disabled." Many are asking what has occurred to cause this to happen. In this post Bob Wedl, former Minnesota Commissioner of Education, describes the effect one method—Response to Intervention (RTI)—can have on reading skills, and factor to the LD status of many students.
In this guest post Bob Bilyk, founder and former director Cyber Village Academy, a charter school in Saint Paul, envisions technology’s capacity to customize education for students. Now, the founder of LodeStar Learning, he argues most vendors’ curriculum is so expensive that teachers cannot mix and match curricula. He argues for a new type of school, and a new attitude that focuses on integrating the full capacities of technology to help both teachers and students access and effectively utilize Web-based information.
Two years ago, E|E’s managing partner Curt Johnson co-authored a book both explaining and predicting the rapid pace of change in American Public Education. Co-authored by Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn, a second edition of “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns,” is now available on line and in major bookstores across the country.
Recently Milwaukee College Prep, the 2008 Wisconsin Charter School of the Year, stepped in to convert a failing school to a new campus. Is this sort of cooperative takeover a model that can be used elsewhere in large cities?
In a guest post for Education Innovating, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville describes the motivation behind that state’s recently-enacted Innovation Schools law, enabling districts to create schools with autonomy reflective of chartering. This significant systemic reform is similar to Boston's Pilot Schools, as well as Minnesota’s Site-Governed Schools law passed in 2009. Already in 2010 two new schools were created under the law.
The idea of organizing a school as a professional partnership has now hit the national media. This will cause discussion - we feel the need to clarify some points about this promising platform.
