It's Not Always Bigger and Better

It's Thursday, which means it's time to talk digital learning! The following blog post comes from Jeremy Macdonald, the Integrated Technology Systems Coordinator for Bend-La Pine Schools in Bend, Oregon.

As of this Monday, April 15, I will be the new Integrated Technology Systems Coordinator for Bend-La Pine Schools in Bend, OR. It's a new job for me and a big move for my family. It's been bittersweet. As time has passed getting ready at home and at school, I have reflected on my experience here in Klamath, the last seven years, and what it will mean to leave my school.

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Are You Shortsighted in Planning Digital Learning Initiatives?

This Project 24 series blog post was written by Gail Pletnick, Superintendent of Dysart Unified School District in Arizona. Gail is a member of the Project 24 Team of Experts. 

Over the past few years, most school districts, including the Dysart Unified School District, have faced funding challenges as well as challenging changes to academic mandates.   Some districts have used that as a reason to turn away from implementing digital learning initiatives -- the cost for equipment and training was too much.  What our Dysart community learned, however, is that these challenging times often provide an opportunity to become more focused and innovative. 

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Afternoon announcements: Is Eric Cantor education's biggest advocate in Congress?

Students at the Career and Technical Education Academy in Hutchinson, Kansas are adding interactions and familiarity with robots to their resumes. Nao, the Robot Teacher, has a human caretaker but can relay messages from students and be programmed to do most anything the students would like. Huffington Post

Research shows that graduating more students from high school and college is key to a successful and growing economy, but what about the 284,000 college graduates who held minimum-wage jobs last year? The number is down from an all-time high in 2010 of 327,000. Huffington Post

Federal grants would provide a financial backing for schools who wish to up their safety measures if new legislation gets through Congress. The bill is in response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut last December. Politics K-12

U.S. Representative and House majority leader Eric Cantor may be education’s new biggest advocate on the Hill. While many members are focused on financial issues, he is championing several education ones. Education Week Read Entire Post

Afternoon announcements: BYOT movement gaining momentum

How does our hyper-technology laden culture affect babies’ early learning? A new feature explores the ‘touch-screen generation.’ The findings may surprise you. The Atlantic

Arne Duncan co-penned an editorial today calling for fines for collegiate athletic coaches whose students don’t graduate. He proposes that coaches be fined for not promoting a healthier sports-school balance. USA Today

The Bring Your Own Technology, or BYOT, movement continues to gain momentum as a growing number of schools allow and encourage students to bring technology into the classroom. Teachers utilize learning apps in the classroom to improve learning and meet each student where they are. New York Times

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood behind the city’s plan to close 54 public schools, saying that it’s not perfect, but it’s necessary. “IF we don’t make these changes, we haven’t lived up to our responsibility as adults to the children of the city of Chicago,” Emanuel said. Huffington Post Read Entire Post

Five Steps for Creating The Digital Learning Plan You Need

This Project 24 series blog post is from Jennifer Barnett. Jennifer is a Technology Integration Specialist at Childersburg High School in Childersburg, Alabama and a member of the Project 24 Team of Experts. 

Sometimes I'm a little jealous of the Boy Scouts. They have this great motto, a snazzy uniform, and a really cool three-finger salute. What's even better is that they are known for their mission and work. Everything they do centers on preparedness. In fact, I bet you already know their mission: to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes. Even if you were unaware of the exact wording of their mission, I'd guess you do understand their organization's plan. The Boy Scouts have done a fabulous job creating a plan to teach boys how to plan. (Sounds like teacher heaven to me!) Without a doubt, the planning process is crucial to the success of any school or organization.  What can be gleaned from organizations with outstanding plans? What might be considered the most crucial elements of the planning process?

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Creating Purposeful Student Centered Digital Learning Environments

This Project24 blog series post comes from Michael King, principal of Dodge City Middle School in Dodge City, Kansas.

As a school we began to approach the ideas of 21st Century learning opportunities and technology integration from the prospective of student centered learning. We knew we had to prepare both the teachers and students to enter a new era of learning challenges. In other words, we had to foster consistency throughout the building and worked to define this consistency through collaboration, consensus, and team work.  These desires for needed change lead us to our essential questions: What  kinds of engaged learning do we, as a school, see students doing with technology---and more importantly, will our school, as a whole, be willing to view the student as the center of knowledge obtainment? "Do students think that they are being challenged enough?" and "Do teachers engage students in deep learning opportunities?" The response to these questions is how our school went about defining student centered learning as we have set the course for mobile learning opportunities.   

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Hooked On Curation

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Afternoon announcements: Obama administration faces lawsuit over new federal student aid standards

Instead of stagnating or even cutting teacher pay, Montgomery County in Maryland is increasing it. Teachers could see $18 million in raises if they approve a tentative contract agreement with the public school system. Washington Post

Schools around the country are being designed and built with digital learning in mind. One in Texas strives for a “net zero” when it comes to energy used and energy produced. Other schools have classrooms grouped to foster collaboration and share technology. Education Week

A 17-year-old high school senior won $100,000 scholarship from the IntelScience Talent Search competition for growing algae under her bed. Of course, it was a lot more technical and scientific than that. “I was trying to use guided evolution, so artificial selection, to isolate populations of algae cells with abnormally high oil content,” Sara Volz told NBC News. NBC News

Historically black colleges and universities are contemplating suing the Obama administration over new federal student aid policies. In particular, the standards enacted in October 2011 to PLUS loans make it harder for parents with less than outstanding credit to obtain loans. The HBCUs argue those new rules disproportionately affect their students. Huffington Post Read Entire Post

Everyone's getting Straight A's: Building a Grad Nation

The newest edition of the Alliance’s newsletter, Straight A’s: Public Education Policy and Progress, is now online. Here are a few excerpts from this issue.

For the first time, the nation is on track to meet the goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the Class of 2020, according to a new report from Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America’s Promise Alliance, and the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report, Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, finds that the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR) increased from 71.7 percent in 2001 to 78.2 percent in 2010. It also finds that the number of “dropout factories” fell from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,424 in 2011. Building a Grad Nation

A new report from the California Dropout Research Project at the University of California–Santa Barbara finds that English learner (EL) students make up 11 percent of students nationally, a percentage that climbs to 20 percent when students who were once classified as EL students are included. The report, The English Learner Dropout Dilemma: Multiple Risks and Multiple Resources, examines the consequences, causes, and solutions to the high school dropout crisis among EL students and argues that the social, economic, and health consequences of dropping out threatens both the general population as well as EL students.  The English Learner Dropout Dilemma

On February 26, the Alliance for Excellent Education conducted a webinar on the transition to Common Core State Standards and Next-Generation Science Standards and the opportunities and challenges for the growing number of English language learners (ELLs). During the webinar, panelists discussed numerous initiatives underway to help ELLs access grade-level content while building their language proficiency, including Stanford University’s Understanding Language initiative and the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) Framework for English Language Proficiency Development Standards.  Building on Common Core State Standards to Improve Learning for English Language Learners

In this issue of Straight A’s, we wrapped up our recaps of state of the state addresses given by the state governors. We highlighted Maryland, where Governor O’Malley is pushing for digital learning; Mississippi, Governor Bryant is working to reduce high school dropout rates; Missouri, where Governor Nixon proposed $150 million in additional education funding; Tennessee’s Governor Haslam announced a goal for 55 percent of Tennesseans to earn an associate’s degree or higher by 2025; and West Virginia, where Governor Tomlin praised the Alliance’s Project 24 initiative. State of the State Addresses

You can read the full articles online here. If you’d like to receive Straight A’s in your inbox, please email JAmos@all4ed.org. Read Entire Post

Afternoon announcements: Colleges offer deals to make price tag more attractive

A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that a majority 1) have cell phones and 2) are using their mobile phones to browse the internet. According to the report, 78 percent of teens have cell phones, and of them, 1 in 4 use it to browse the internet. That compares to 15 percent of adults who access the internet primarily by mobile phone. Education Week

New guidance from PARCC, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, says that the new Common Core assessments will take up to 10 hours for students to complete. Schools will have multiple days to administer the tests. Education Week

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-West Virginia) proposed an expansion of the $2.3 billion federal E-Rate program, “which subsidizes basic internet connections for schools and libraries,” to ensure every school has access to high speed internet. New York Times

Colleges’ new recruiting tool is offering deals, similar to a car dealership. Some of the deals being offered include “apply today, get $2,500 cash back,” and a promise of a free semester after purchasing a set number of others. Wall Street Journal Read Entire Post