by Elissa Nadworny
Get the Voices of Education Right in Your Inbox
by Elissa Nadworny
T he Foundation for Excellence in Education, also known as ExcelinEd, released its annual Digital Learning Report Card today. Digital Learning Now, an initiative of ExcelinEd, bases the report card on “Ten Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning” that identify specific policies and issues states need to pursue regarding digital learning. Included in these elements are student eligibility, student access, personalized learning, advancement, quality content and instruction, choice, assessment, funding and delivery. The Digital Learning Report Card examines what states are doing to advance digital learning by gauging 42 actionable metrics related to these elements.This 2014 report assigns a letter grade to each state based on those metrics. The states of Florida and Utah each received an “A” grade. Fifty percent of the states improved their grades overall, and nine states improved from their previous “F” grades. The report cites overall progress nationwide, but also acknowledges that states have been busy at work implementing the more than 400 digital learning laws enacted in the past four years.In addition to the grades, the report examines related issues such as data privacy, course access and E-rate, and summarizes major state policy initiatives related to digital learning.The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded in 2009 by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The Digital Learning Council, which created the Ten Elements cited above, was convened a year later and co-chaired by Jeb Bush and former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise.You can read the entire 2014 Digital Learning Report Card here.
by Mike Anderson
After-school activities shape 21st-century learners. These five rules help schools and parents create safe, fun, and equitable programs for every student.
by Kate Taylor and Motoko Rich
Across New York state this week, some students are refusing to take a test, and they’re not getting punished for it. The test is the Common Core-aligned, federally mandated test, and students, parents and educators are part of what they’re calling the opt-out movement.Opt outs made news last week in several states: Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, to name a few. The objections are similar everywhere. But no state is posting numbers like New York.According to the advocates’ own tally, about 175,000 opted out in several hundred New York districts. That’s big for a protest, but pretty small compared with the millions of students enrolled in public school in the state.Read the rest of the story on nprEd.
Nancie Atwell’s advice for young people to “work in the private sector” reflects how testing and mandates have drained public education’s spirit.
Lord James Knight, formerly the Minister for Education in England and current Managing Director of Online Learning at TSL Education, took time to answer questions about the state of online and blended learning in education across the globe. Lord Knight’s response to my last question about the future and expanse of online learning speaks,
Elementary schools would be allowed to eject students only if they do serious harm or are a threat to safety
