Search Results for: Children

Automated Education + Chasing Skills + Debt = Social Control

I posted the scenario below in November of 2015 as a Facebook note. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve come across a number of items having to do with skills, automation, and human capital management, so I thought I would pull it back out to share. Below are a couple of articles that caught my eye: New Tools Needed […]

Stop! Don’t opt out. Read this first.

Schools in every state are buzzing this year with talk of “personalized” learning and 21st century assessments for kids as young as kindergarten. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and its innovative pilot programs are already changing the ways schools instruct and assess, in ways that are clearly harmful to our kids. Ed-tech companies, chambers […]

ELOs: How Community-Based Learning Advances the Cyber Education Agenda

This is the third installment in a series on learning ecosystems. For more information see these related posts: “Future Ready” schools and digital badges. A key tenet of Ed Reform 2.0 is “anytime any place learning.” Detaching education from the normal school day and physical school buildings will permit the transfer of face-to-face classroom instruction […]

How exactly did the Department of Defense end up in my child’s classroom?

You cannot fully understand what is happening with Future Ready school redesign, 1:1 device programs, embedded assessments, gamification, classroom management apps, and the push for students in neighborhood schools to supplement instruction with online courses until you grasp the role the federal government and the Department of Defense more specifically have played in bringing us […]

Hoping to escape Competency-Based Education? Looks like Wyoming is your only option.

Last week Susan Patrick of iNACOL (International Association of K12 Online Learning) and Chris Sturgis of CompetencyWorks presented “An Overview of K12 Competency-Based Education for Education Leaders and Teachers.” The webinar and slides can be accessed here. Compare the slides below and consider the gravity of our situation. The first shows the reach of Competency-Based […]

What You Should Know About “Pay for Success” as Testing Season Approaches

From this week’s newsfeed: Chicago schools may end classes three weeks early due to lack of funding. Several dozen Detroit schools close temporarily due to a “boil water” advisory. Some Boston schools anticipate 20%+ cuts to already meager budgets. Philadelphia teachers crowd-fund a billboard explaining they’ve been working without a contract or raises for nearly […]

Digital Curriculum: Questions Parents Should be Asking

As we enter this new era of blended/hybrid classrooms, the clamor of ed-tech entrepreneurs pitching their digital curricula is getting to be truly overwhelming for parents. Rather than critiquing individual programs, I have laid out a set of ten questions that parents should be asking their child’s teachers and school administrators. Feel free to share […]