L.A. Unified Expands Educational Opportunities for Students With Technology Investment

I learned to type on a gigantic – by today’s standards – Dell computer. My mom’s company purchased top of the line, brand new computers for the entire office, and allowed employees to purchase the old computers for a fraction of their worth. A colleague of hers helped my mom carry the behemoth to her car, and my brother helped us both carry it inside. We set it on an indestructible old desk, so heavy itself we knew it could bear the weight of the computer.

I turned on the new –to-me device, anticipation building inside with every passing second - until the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes to many, many minutes. But finally, that old Dell booted up, blinked at me several times, and I connected to the internet for the first time at home. The year was 1997, and I was 12 years old.

I grew up in a single parent, low-income family. I was an ambitious child and student, but that alone couldn’t bridge the divide between all the things I wanted to be when I grew up (a lawyer, writer, Olympic gymnast…) and what I needed to learn to get there. My schools couldn’t always bridge that divide, either. The computer my mom brought home could, though. (Well, besides the Olympic gymnast part.) That old Dell computer cracked my world open and expanded it so vastly that I could see possibilities and opportunities available to me that I never knew existed.

This week, the L.A. United School District in California signed a $30 million contract with Apple computers to provide every student with an iPad. The district is the second largest in the nation, and an overwhelming majority of its students are low-income and Hispanic. The students and teachers had an opportunity to test various handheld devices, and the iPad won in terms of usability, versatility, and price. The district plans to roll out the devices – pre-loaded with educational software - at 47 campuses.  Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: Teacher Training Programs Found to be Mediocre

Recent rankings from the National Council on Teacher Quality find that the majority of the U.S.’s 1,430 education programs preparing K-12 teachers are mediocre. The findings are part of a $5 million project funded by major U.S. foundations. The Washington Post

Have you ever seen or heard someone conflate “standards” and “curriculum” when talking about the Common Core State Standards? It’s a common mistake. Here’s a refresher course on the differences between the two. Education Next

Writing in response to an editorial published earlier this month in The Deseret News decrying the Common Core State Standards, this writer corrects the facts about the Common Standards and makes a strong case for why the state should implement them. Deseret News

“The common-core standards are not a curriculum. They are a clear set of shared goals and expectations for the knowledge and skills that will help students succeed in college or a workforce-training program.” Education Week Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: Education Secretary Duncan Calls Shortage of Bandwidth in Schools 'Morally Unacceptable'

Maryland’s low-income students made the most academic progress than any other state’s comparable population in the last eight years, according to a new Education Sector report. “The New State Achievement Gap” looks at how states compare to one another in terms of student achievement. Baltimore Sun

The Oakland Unified School District in California has long been known as a violence-fueled factory, having lost 16,000 of its students since 2000. The district is looking to reinvent itself by turning its 87 schools into “full-service community schools” with staff equipped to help students with social, emotional, physical, and academic needs. Hechinger Report

“Most schools have about as much Internet bandwidth as your house,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said last week at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s 2013 Cable Show. “We are denying our teachers and students the tools they need to be successful. That is educationally unsound and morally unacceptable.” US News & World Report

As the Senate Democrats’ No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation moves forward, Education Week asks and answers five pertinent questions. Politics K-12 Read Entire Post

Deeper Learning Digest: #PBLWeek

The Deeper Learning Digest is a regular feature that includes content related to Deeper Learning, project-based learning, the Common Core State Standards, and 21st century skills. Find out more about Deeper Learning at www.DeeperLearning4All.org

News and Views

• A new ‘Education Declaration’ for genuine school reform – The Washington Post

“A coalition of educators, researchers, parents, activists and elected officials issued what signees are calling an “Education Declaration” on Tuesday that lists seven key principles on which genuine school reform should be guided for the 21st century and starts from the premise that public education is “a public good.”
The document offers a progressive approach to school reform that includes ensuring that teachers are properly trained and respected, that opportunities to learn for all students are paramount and that  learning must be “engaging and relevant.”

• In case you missed it, here are three op/eds on the Common Core State Standards from this week, two from USA Today, one from John Merrow:
  Myths Fuel Attacks on ‘Common Core’ standards: Our view – USA Today
  Include Parents in Standards Debate: Opposing View – USA Today
  The Common Core and the End of the World – Taking Note
  

• My Top Three Policy Recommendations for Education Reform – Education Week
  By Justin Reich
  “I was recently asked for my top three recommendations for policy and "non-policy" strategies for improving education, particularly with an eye towards increasing equity and advancing deeper learning (the development of student competencies like ill-structured problem solving, communication, and new media literacy in the context of academic content learning).”
• Teacher-Led Professional Learning: The Latest Revolution In Education – edudemic
• Expeditionary Learning Launches Its First NYC Charter – Education Week
• Aspen Institute Launches Task Force on Learning and the Internet – PR Wire
  

Project Based Learning Week (#PBLWeek)

This week, the Buck Institute for Education introduces "#PBLWeek: A Celebration of the PBL Graduate." From Monday (6.17.13) through Friday (6.21.13) join BIE and PBLers across the globe in answering an important Driving Question about students who have experiences PBL in their school: "What is remarkable about a PBL graduate?" Follow the PBL Week Pinterest Board and the #PBLWeek hashtag across a variety of social networks (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,Edmodo) to stay tuned to what is going on.

In that same vein, there will be a project based learning Twitter chat this Tuesday, June 18 at 8pm EST using the hash tag #PBLChat.

Infographics

Because who doesn’t love a good infographic? Here are some that caught our attention this week and that might be helpful for your various networks.

• A Simple Guide To 4 Complex Learning Theories – edudemic
• 12 Principles Of Collaboration In Learning – TeachThought
• 3 Ways To Use Vine In The Project-Based Learning Classroom – TeachThought
• 27 Ways To Be A 21st Century Teacher – edudemic
  

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Afternoon Announcements: Bill Clinton Promotes Open Badges

Former President Bill Clinton teamed up with Mozilla and the MacArthur Foundation to expand the use of Open Badges, or online credentials that employers or universities can use in determining hiring, admissions, and awarding credit. The badges demonstrate skills in various areas. New York Times  

The daughter of a Teacher of the Year from North Carolina describes the difficult year her mom had teaching. She says her mom’s job is to prepare students for college. This one’s a great read. Washington Post

NPR takes on the debate raging around the Common Core State Standards. The program follows the hot topics surrounding the debate, what students will be expected to know when the standards are implemented, and more. On Point

The only teacher in the world teaching with Google Glass describes how he uses it to teach science online. The teacher created STEMbite – “a series of bite-size videos showing the math and science of every day life from a unique first-person perspective.” Edutopia

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Six Summer Tips To Tip The Scale For Digital Learning

It's Thursday, and that means it's time to talk digital learning! Today's post comes from Terri Schwartzbeck, Senior Digital Outreach Associate at the Alliance for Excellent Education. 

It’s been a big week for digital learning. Last week, President Obama paid a visit to Mooresville, North Carolina, which is fast becoming a mecca of sorts for proponents of the power of technology to change learning. And today the Associate Press reports that the LEAD Commission is finalizing a five-point plan to speed the adoption of digital learning in schools. Could we be getting close to a tipping point for digital learning to truly make a different in the lives of all students? Here are six steps you can take this summer to help build momentum for digital learning! 

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Afternoon Announcements: Senate Committee Passes ESEA Reauthorization Bill

States are requesting more leeway and time on evaluating teachers during the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, less than two years away in the majority of states. The new assessments will be tied to accountability systems for teacher performance, and educators want to know they’ll be given adequate time to adjust to the standards. Education Week

The Senate education committee passed a bill yesterday that, if made into law, would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and improve high schools across the nation. Jessica Cardichon, the Director of Federal Advocacy at the Alliance, writes more about the bill’s markup and what implications it could have. High School Soup

East Hampton School District in Middletown, Connecticut is finding ways to increase their budget for technology. Leftover money from this year’s budget will be used to make a commitment to new technology. The district currently has no wireless computer access in several schools and is functioning on outdated computers. The Middletown Press

In the last few years, the number of Americans graduating from college has increased, putting the number at a new high, according to recent federal data. The increase in college degrees comes after two decades of slow growth. New York Times Read Entire Post

Senate HELP Committee Passes Bill that Would Improve the Nation’s High Schools

On June 11th and 12th,  the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a markup on a bill known as the Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013 (SASA). Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced SASA and all the democratic members of the HELP committee co-sponsored it on June 4th, 2013. Harkin’s bill aims to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and maintains a significant amount of the language from the 2011 version of the bill while adding key provisions that would benefit high schools and students. On June 12th, SASA passed out of the HELP Committee along party lines, with all twelve Democratic Committee members voting in favor of the bill and all ten Republican Committee members voting against the bill.

SASA includes a number of provisions to improve the nation’s high schools. Currently, high schools in the United States serve 22 percent of students from low-income families yet receive only 10 percent of Title I funding. Under SASA, more of the nation’s low-performing high schools would be eligible to receive increased funding, attention, and intervention, benefitting the large number of low-income students and students of color most likely to attend these schools. Some key provisions of SASA include: Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: Senate Education Committee Marks Up NCLB Bill

Yesterday and today the Senate education committee marked up its version of a bill slated to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It’s unlikely to pass given partisan differences, but it’s interesting to see what will come out of this and how far the bill will go. Politics K-12

The graduation rate has risen to its highest in 40 years, but is that good news for every school district? NPR talks to the Education Week report’s authors. NPR

Several nonprofit law centers have teamed together to file a civil rights complaint on behalf of seven students in Dallas County that have all been referred to truancy courts. Dallas County has prosecuted more than 36,000 students in four school districts, more than any other Texas county. New York Times

Classrooms across the country are taking into account the changes in the soon-to-be-implemented Common Core State Standards and trying to prepare students for the more rigorous standards. The DC school system has chosen an aggressive approach to their implementation, and teachers are working quickly to prepare students and themselves. Education Week Read Entire Post

Afternoon Announcements: President Obama Fills Vacancies in Ed. Dept.

President Obama filled two positions within the Department of Education this week. He nominated Catherine E. Lhamon to be assistant secretary for civil rights and James Cole Jr. to be Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s chief lawyer. Both need to be confirmed by the US Senate. Politics K-12

While the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee marked up the Democrats’ bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act today, you can still learn the ins and outs of what was expected to happen, including amendments that were suggested. Politics K-12

Between 2000-2010, Kentucky showed the nation’s third-highest improvement in high school graduation rates. The state’s graduation rate improved 13.5 percentage points in the 10 year period. Kentucky.com

It’s official: Texas high school students will now have to pass only 5 standardized exams to graduate, compared to the 15 required in previous years. Governor Rick Perry approved the bill reducing the number of exams earlier this week. New York Times Read Entire Post