Rethinking the role of high school By Anthony Kim, Founder & CEO, Education Elements From Sir Ken Robinson, films like “Most Likely to Succeed” and campaigns like XQ Super Schools Project, we are constantly reminded of the need to change our schools from the model we developed during the industrial era. The leaders of this […]
Ensuring all students have equal access to educational technology—both in the classroom and at home—often requires innovation. Educators can find cost-effective solutions in new technologies such as open-educational resources and by partnering with the business community. "The vast majority of superintendents agree with the premise that digital equity is a problem, but when we ask […]
Chicago Public Schools will require a new first-of-its-kind program to ensure all students leave high school with a post-graduation plan. Starting with the past year's freshmen class, every student must have their Learn.Plan.Succeed plan approved to graduate. Chicago is the first large urban district in the country to implement the program, which many city schools […]
In the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, education was designed to produce students who could follow directions, read simple sentences, and solve basic math problems in order to prepare them for factory work. Thinking critically and solving complicated problems wasn't necessary for most jobs. As we've moved from that era into the digital age, we've […]
Ten weeks before summer break each year, Jason Borrie makes a dramatic announcement to his social studies class at Northeastern Clinton Central, a high school in Northeastern Clinton CSD in upstate New York. An uncle of theirs has passed away, leaving each student $25,000 with one condition: they invest their inheritances in the stock market. […]
Making the transformation from traditional to online assessments can cause confusion for many districts, even when it comes to basic definitions. In Houston ISD, for example, analysts found that school leaders were using the right terminology, but their understanding of the words differed widely. Some thought an online assessment was about downloading a scoring sheet, […]
When Hopatcong Borough Schools started a 1-to-1 project that distributed 1,450 Chromebooks to its students and staff in 2016, leaders in the northern New Jersey district wondered whether they had enough bandwidth to satisfy the expected demand. They worried the district's 300Mbps connection would slow down or crash, making the new computers about as pedagogically […]
Allowing students to explore news articles that spark their curiosity can provide a bigger literacy boost than having them read nonfiction texts about random topics far removed from a youngster's interests. At Lancaster Middle School near Buffalo, New York, students read news articles to help write stories for a classroom magazine and to prepare for […]
Educators have offered instruction that goes beyond the rote for many years, but the concept of deeper learning has recently grown in scope as higher education and the economy demand a more complex blend of intellectual and social skills. Today's deeper learning proponents urge schools to focus on six competencies: mastering rigorous academic content; thinking […]
Seeking alternatives to expensive professional development that takes teachers out of their classrooms and requires substitutes, Madison County Public Schools in Virginia developed a solution. Teachers want relevant professional development to be available when they have time. They want choice and immediate feedback. The district needs effective PD that is incorporated into classrooms. As director […]
