SPOTLIGHT ON… HIGHER LEARNING

Some people are talking about reimagining high school and beyond to address deficiencies in learning, narrow the skills gap, and meet the needs of a new generation of work and the realities of a 21st century life filled with technology. At CER, we are working on taking it one step further – let’s not reimagine, let’s

REVOLUTIONIZE IT. We offer some ideas from our colleagues, and our own, that should be on the minds of policymakers particularly in Washington as they look toward solving these issues this year.

REINVENT HIGH SCHOOL? It’s been the buzz for a while now. The XQ Super School Project picked it up and ran with it with grants of $10 million to schools to replicate (still a work in progress). Jobs for the Future has been talking about it since before 2012. And the NAEP data we see every few years is a clear indication that something is not right about these 12th graders (so much so that some cities like DC have to cheat to get people out the door!) but alas these big ideas take time. Now, an article by 2 scholars in a think tank’s blog goes a step further with a clear-cut plan to truly turn it upside down. Their prescription? Change how we measure, ensure that students master the material (not just sit through a class) and yes, realign all they are expected to learn with higher ed and work.

“…it’s important to change how we measure success. If we want high schools to ultimately turn out responsible and productive citizens and we agree that not every graduate in America today fits that criteria, then let’s not use graduation rate as our ultimate measure of success. …The solution—personalized learning, the educational buzz word that has every school across the nation attempting to better serve each student’s unique needs and goals.” MORE

REINVENT HIGHER EDUCATION. At SXSW edX CEO Anant Agarwal offered this prescription to Ed Sec Betsy DeVos’ question about how best to “rethink” higher ed:

“Let’s make education modular; let’s unbundle education so that we can share and combine and stack pieces and do things in a very innovative and forward looking way.

“If I’m working and I need to up-skill, where do I learn data science today? I don’t have time to go and get a two-year masters. We need these modular credentials. We need the employers to accept these. And, he argued, we need to change the way federal financial aid flows to recognize these new credentials and scores more being created by employers, universities and others trying to respond to the growing skills gap and intransience of higher ed to adapt:

“Today a student can use $20,000 of funding to fund a fly-by-night, terrible degree program, but they cannot use a thousand dollars for a micro masters in artificial intelligence, or cyber security from Columbia, or MIT, or Harvard.,” like those now available on the non-profit EdX’s platform. Let students decide how they wish to spend the aid, he suggested, “and watch how fast things will change.”

THE NEW DEGREE. GSV’s A2APPLE Weekly Brief reports that companies are co-creating their own higher ed programs to address the deficiencies in traditional higher ed. “… re-skilling and adapting the workforce to modern technology is becoming one of the biggest focus areas for corporations. As an illustration — open IT positions in the global workforce are currently growing at 15% per year. Not surprisingly therefore, Coursera’s recently launched B2B offering has already gained over 900 global company customers, up 25x compared to 2016!” The aforementioned EdX has new Micro-degrees and ASU and others are creating new masters programs in computer science and data sciences.

REINVENT WORKFORCE & APPRENTICESHIPS. We’ve been marching around the Hill saying it for nearly a year – the critical missing link isn’t whether we do vocational education well, or how we fund workforce development programs, but whether Americans have access in real time to the education, workforce and apprenticeship opportunities that can ensure continued learning and a career path that makes sense. Enter the Education, Workforce and Apprentice Tax Credit Proposal of 2017 that has been Introduced in 2018 by Cong. Lloyd Smucker as the USA Workforce Tax Credit Act (H.R. 5152). U.S. businesses and individuals who wish to support scholarships for students who want to pursue better learning opportunities at every level would get a tax credit for their contribution. This would spur relevant and responsive programs to be developed at every level and more workers would have access to the education they and their families need in real time. Check it out. We’re fans! (Then again, it was our idea!)

WE STILL LOVE THE LIBERAL ARTS. As Burning Glass Technologies argues in their blog on this subject that employers want the critical thinking, comms and soft skills that liberal arts provide, but they also need the specific skills that are suited to the job market. It’s not either or, it’s both, AND! And yes, Senator Rubio, we do need more philosophers!

• “Right now, of employed Americans, 46 percent of them feel like they need additional education to advance in their careers. But for those in their 30’s, that’s 50 percent and for those in their 40’s, it’s 57%.” Dave Clayton, Strada Education Network
• College students support free speech — unless it offends them.

IN OTHER NEWS… The future of knowledge, education, issues like you find in today’s Newswire and more will be covered inside and out at the 2018 ASU+GSV Summit this April 16-18 in San Diego, CA. Speakers include former President George Bush, Ed Secretary Duncan, Orange County Superintendent Barbara Jenkins and many others. Join us at the hottest confab of the year!

TELL US YOUR STORY! Families all over the country have education stories to tell. Send us yours!

Much Ado About Nothing? …

Much of the education world has Shakespeare’s February Face today as a result of the proposed federal budget released yesterday by the Trump Administration. Nary a constituency was spared, netting scorn and fury from most, save for the educational choice community, buoyed by news of a potential pilot project that would allow up to 50 school districts to consolidate federal, state and local education funding into one pot that would be allocated based on students’ needs. Says American Federation for Children leadership of the proposal, “The President’s second budget proposal once again shows a commitment to expanding school choice in America and putting more decision-making power into the hands of families.” Funds for teacher development, early childhood and career and technical education lose, while support for new charter schools and promoting innovation win. But the frost, storm and cloudiness is misplaced. First, it’s a proposal, just like last year’s and there is still much to be done. Second, even if the budget was enacted as it is, would it really have an impact on great education?

STATES ARE GROUND ZERO. As the nation’s governors prepare to convene in Washington together and then separately by partisan groups, we remind our colleagues who are wringing their hands that opportunity and innovation is most likely to occur in states, with or without federal stimulus funds or support. Personalized learning started in reformist districts and schools without DC’s intervention; Capitol Hill is inconsequential to great boot camps and training programs like General Assembly; federal vocational education programs subsidize the very same system that has failed the traditional public ed track students; and states with early childhood education are more innovative because they aren’t heavily dependent on federal funds.

CONSIDER, INSTEAD… of crying wolf to Congress on what you may or may not lose this time around (yes, and that includes you, charter start-up fund fans), why not demonstrate that no matter what fate befalls Washington, you can handle the challenges and opportunities of learners at all levels. Innovators should show up and share their unique approaches and why (or why not) federal action can help. As Ed Week offers, “If history’s any guide, it won’t go anywhere in Congress, where lawmakers are not in the habit of just rubber-stamping presidents’ spending plans.”

WHO WE’D LIKE TO SEE ON CAPITOL HILL. Rather than the same old faces, and in akin to the “here’s who we’d like to see in the president’s box at the state of the union” Here’s a handy dandy list of those we’d most like to see sharing their stories on Capitol Hill:

• Stig Legsley, CEO of The Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education, Inc. and The Match Foundation, Inc. With the skyrocketing costs of college, uneven quality, and 50 percent completion rates, Match Charter Schools opened its own college and jobs program entitled, Match Beyond in 2013.
• Kelly Young is the Executive Director of Education Reimagined, a community dedicated to accelerating the growth and impact of the learner-centered education movement in the United States.
• Deborah Kenny is CEO of Harlem Village Academies, a network of charter schools in Harlem, New York. The network created a graduate school of education, the Progressive Education Institute, in which students learn though immersion in effective progressive classrooms embedded within the K-12 schools.
• Michael Sorrell is the President of Paul Quinn College, the country’s only urban Work College, the first work college in Texas, and the first Minority Serving Institution in the Work College Consortium.
• Jake Schwartz is the Co-Founder and CEO of General Assembly, a global computer programing boot camp organization. With 20 campuses, 10,000+ hiring partners, and 40,000+ full- and part-time course grads, General Assembly helps students and professionals learn today’s most sought-after skills.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Roughly 22 percent of Americans – more than 191 adults – can’t read at a basic level.
• On average, higher-income students in the U.S. achieve the equivalent of six years of learning more than their lower-income peers on standardized tests of reading achievement.

Data comes from the National Center for Education Statistics as part of a new CER paper, The Case For Education Transformation, Part I: The Disappointing Reality of American Education.

IN THE NEWS

• As part of a plan to transform Puerto Rico’s education system, Governor Ricard Rossello recently announced that he will push to create charter schools and vouchers, and give all public school teachers their first raise in a decade.

TELL US YOUR STORY!

Families all over the country have school choice stories to tell. Send us yours!

SPOTLIGHT ON… EdTech in 2018

The Future of Education. If you haven’t read EDTECH Digest’s “State of EdTech 2017-2018: The Minds Behind What’s Now & What’s Next” you owe it to yourself to set aside some time to do so. The editor’s letter that begins the report, “A message from the future” sets the stage quite nicely:

“The future ain’t what it used to be! Goodbye 2017, hello 2018! The learning landscape is shifting. The seismic activity isn’t a mystery. There are obvious recent forces at work—sure, technology, but people are making it happen…and we’re excited to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate the innovators, leaders and trendsetters who are shaking things up, making things move, and creating a future worth living in. To care deeply about others—that human element to edtech — is just a hint of things to come. There’s much more to learn as the year unfolds!”

The report contains a ton of data and provides some incredible analysis and insight into the where we are and where we’re going. The numbers themselves are fascinating: The education market is undergoing a massive digital revolution that is impacting 1.5 billion learners worldwide. The value of the global education market is estimated at nearly $7 trillion (with global adoption of edtech still on the rise). And in 2017 alone, $3.48 billion in venture capital was invested in edtech. At more than 80 million-plus, Millennials (the generation born between 1980-1999 and today, age 19-38) are the largest, and likely the most studied, cohort in history. A wired, connected world is all Millennials have ever known.

Leading the EdTech Pack. The annual Top Influencers in edtech is out. CER’s founder and CEO Jeanne Allen was named in this year’s top 100! We congratulate all the leaders, innovators, catalysts and change agents who are making a difference for learners at all levels today. “By their example, by their actions, by what they write, communicate and the products they create—they are more than a social media follower count, they are interacting with those around them, making the world a better place through their work in education technology, and this year, they are all edtech’s top influencers.”

Loving LearnLaunch. “If it’s making waves in edtech, it’s going to be on the agenda at  Across Boundaries … the meeting of more than 1,500 educators, education administrators, entrepreneurs, investors, education companies, and technology innovators interested in driving innovation to transform learning and increase achievement using digital technologies.” And innovation central it was! From the incredible insights of Social Impact Investors from New Markets, Lumina and Reach Capital, to the inspiring words of Lindsay Unified’s Tom Rooney and Alt School’s Devin Vodicka about the importance of transforming public education from factory model to personalized (which they have accomplished), the dynamic event was one of the nation’s big highlights in education innovation. Kudos to LearnLaunch Chair Mark Miller of Good Harbor Partners and Co-Founders Jean Hammond for helping for accelerating education innovation.

DID YOU KNOW?

✔ Virtual reality is not just fun and games? 85% of teachers believe virtual reality will have a positive impact on their students.

✔ Speaking of games – 66% of teachers use games and simulations to help with learning.

✔ 37% of teachers include student-produced video content to create a more interactive learning experience.

IN THE NEWS

✔ Check out a boot camp like none other: Learn from the best in the business on Selling into the US Education Marketplace – Monday February 26.

✔ American Federation for Children’s new School Choice Yearbook is now available. Order your copy today or get the data you need fast with a new interactive map on their site.

✔ Don’t miss the latest Reality Check with @Jeanne Allen available Monday. This week’s podcast features entrepreneur, investor, scholar, economist @CarlSchramm, discussing his new book Burn the Business Plan.

TELL US YOUR STORY!

Families all over the country have school choice stories to tell. Send us yours!

SPOTLIGHT ON…National School Choice Week

WHAT IS IT? A national happening with events being held everywhere from the White House to your house… It’s a cultural shift… The concept of school choice (better and more effectively known aseducation opportunity )has moved from being simply an idea (dismissed by the establishment) to a cause (derided by the status quo) to a growing reality (decried by unions and bureaucrats), to a dominating philosophy that is reshaping education in America ( much to the on-going anger and indignation of the power elite)… The obstacles and objections range from annoying to outrageous. Annoying in the paternalistic eye-rolling and rejection of parental demands by the we-know-best establishment . Outrageous in the billions of dollars spent propping up failed systems at the expense of expanding opportunities and options, and in the hundreds-of-millions spent on lobbying and political action to stifle reform and preserve the status quo—with a thousand battles, large and small, waged –and still being fought– in between.

CHOICE IS WINNING. Parents and children are claiming rights that should have been theirs from the beginning. Another point: NSCW is nonpartisan, nonpolitical, and independent (now how many things can you say that about?!) … Having started small in 2011 with 150 events, National School Choice Week is now a huge occasion, with an estimated 6.7 million people expected to celebrate the week at 32,000 events around the country to raise public awareness of all the different K-12 education options available to children and families and why.

DON’T BELIEVE IT? LOOK HERE. No matter who …or where… from urban to rural America, across political, racial and socioeconomic lines – support for new opportunities and new schools of choice for children and families nationwide, is irrefutable.  Listen to the voices of visionary students, parents, school leaders and lawmakers on thisspecial edition of Reality Check with Jeanne Allen, and follow the campaign featuring interviews, event coverage and school presentations , available now at www.edreform.com , onFacebook , and via Twitter @edreform . Watch charter school teacher and student-produced content from classrooms around the country. Featured schools, to name just a few, include Inlet Grove Community Academy, Purpose Preparatory Academy, Southland College Prep and STRIVE Prep SMART Academy.

READ VOICES OF COLOR, Voices for Opportunity. Published in newspapers nationwide, the testimony of national, state and local leaders is concrete evidence of the widespread and diverse perspectives for educational choice that exist all over the country.

Did You Know?

Schools are not working for most students, and that to succeed in life they need expanded educational opportunities – driven by innovation, freedom and flexibility – that will lead to improved economic outcomes and bring the American Dream within the reach of all. That’s why polls like this one from the AFC show dramatic support for educational choice.

In the News… and what’s coming up in education innovation and opportunity

• EduCon 2018 January 26 – 28, 2018 – Philadelphia
  • EduCon is both a conversation and a conference. It is an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the big dreams.

• LearnLaunch Institute’s 2018 Conference February 1-2, 2018 – Boston
  • Across Boundaries conference brings together a community that wants to transform learning and increase achievement through the use of digital technologies.

Tell Us Your Story! Families all over the country have school choice stories to tell. Send us yours!

Here’s what families told the Foundation in Excellence in Education. These come to us courtesy the 74 and ExcelinEd CEO Patricia Levesque.

SPOTLIGHT ON… Maryland

Turn up the Heat. We are asking the same question that you are — why are there ANY schools in Baltimore not being heated? Unexpected and frigid temperatures aside, old boilers and pipes in schools have been anticipated for years. Eight schools remained closed Monday, and the Governor announced $2.5 million for repairs – on top of the already $24 million the city gets from the state ($12,000 per student annually) – and that he’d investigate mismanagement. The city says it’s underfunded. Yet, a look at the data on student achievement compared to funds spent suggest that all of whatever funding they have has its issues reaching the kids. Baltimore is also plagued with a union that stages sick outs and schools where teachers fail to report to class.

Business as Usual. Another year, another superintendent. The past 12 years have seen 5 superintendents in Baltimore City. It’s not the pay, which most recently was $287,000. It’s not the cause, which is vital. So it must be the politics, the treatment the vested interests that get to great people once they’ve taken the job. Or the untenable position they find themselves in. Take Dallas Dance, who by all accounts was an incredibly insightful superintendent. Some in the community – and the press – made a big deal of his involvement with Ed-Tech companies, claiming he had conflicts. Anyone engaged in education leadership may, along the way, actually work for or advise businesses in their products and services. Do we really expect educational leaders to forgo any livelihood outside of education administration? Dance was also criticized for spending lots of time out of the state. Where else do you think people learn how to make Maryland better for kids? (No wonder the city can’t heat its schools). The measurement should be whether your leadership is great for kids, period. American business is the foundation of American prosperity, folks. We should want leaders with business acumen. Speaking of which…

Innovation Shows the Way. A host of organizations in and around Baltimore are models. There’s the Towson University Incubator which has grown to be the most active edtech hub in Maryland, with support of over 30 companies, 80% in edtech. You can run over to the offices of Educate, Inc. and learn about how personalized learning closes gaps for kids. There’sCalvert Education, offering a time-tested, proven curriculum and all the tools and support necessary to ensure homeschool success; and Connections Academy up the road, delivering virtual learning programs that offer students everything they need to reach their highest potential. Dozens of active engaged citizens and philanthropists are shelling out time and money.And Johns Hopkins Ed School has become a thought leader, and certainly some of the city’s charter schools could show the district a thing or two. If only…

But About That Charter Law. Maryland’s law consistently ranks low on national rankings, most notablyours! It’s very much a law in name only these days, vesting power in charter-resistant school districts to control just about everything that could possibly occur in the schools. Baltimore escaped some of this hostility in the early days of the 2003 law because it had enlightened leaders at the time – and help from groups like ours. But since then, expansion in Charm City and throughout the state has been fraught with union and district hostilities. Despite a “friendly” state board, no additional innovations in chartering have occurred during the Hogan years. Despite that, the US DoEd just awarded $17.5 million in public charter grant funds to the state from a program that the likes of former Sen. Joe Lieberman advanced to help incentivize new schools and seats for kids. Such opportunities come so seldom anymore. Will those who dare to dream for kids please stand up? If the recent heat-gate didn’t compel the legislature to expand opportunities for kids, let’s hope the esteemed body will act now.

_{(*Graphic c. 2015 — MD Charter Law Ranked #42 in CER’s 2017 PPI Rankings and Scorecard)} 

• Rural America’s Day CER urged the president to keep education front and center in the administration’s Rural Prosperity Plans.
• Read All About It Voices of color, voices for opportunity continue to speak out. Sylvia P. Simms, executive director of Educational Opportunities for Families’ op-ed ran in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

• Baltimore City already spends $15,564 per pupil, the fourth highest per student out of the 100 largest school districts in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Annually, Maryland spends nearly three times the amount to incarcerate a person ($38,000) than to educate that same person ($14,000).
• Of all Maryland’s 24 school districts, Baltimore City spends at or near the top per student, yet just 16 percent of 8th graders and 14 percent of 4th graders are proficient in reading.

TELL US YOUR STORY!

Is your state or city missing a big piece of the puzzle? Are you involved in an effort to make significant changes? Maybe you’re running a school. Maybe you’re driving change in your school or community and have hit a roadblock. The bottom line is that no effort is too small.

Share with CER how you are helping deliver the promise of an excellent education for ALL children. Together we can show how innovative education opportunities are bettering students’ lives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! As we gear up for another year of creating great opportunities, working to allow innovation to flourish in education and quality school options to expand across the country, we pause briefly to look over our shoulder at some of the highlights from 2017. We kicked off the year by advising a new Administration how to forge a new path to make education great again. “The First Hundred Days – The Path to Going Bold on Education Innovation and Opportunity,” carved out clear expectations to the newcomers to town, and we’re gratified that by Spring some of CER’s recommendations were put in place as the DoEd began to pare back the federal regulatory briar patch and reorient the department’s focus to highlight key innovations from K-20, most recently highlighting some of the nation’s most effective personalized learning advocates at Secretary DeVos’ innovation summits.

IN JUNE, we shook up the edreform community with “Charting a New Course. The Case for Freedom, Flexibility & Opportunity Through Charter Schools” which in turn has shaken up policymaking and put the charter blob on notice that getting in the way of innovation and opportunity will no longer be tolerated. In July, we went to war with AFT president Randi Weingarten calling her out for her characterizing charter advocates as racists, and shortly after that, we called out the NAACP – and organized our Voices of Color, Voices for Opportunity campaign – to challenge the association’s unfortunate and unjust opposition to charters.

COME FALL, we found ourselves in conflict with actor Matt Damon who, as narrator of the union-backed, propaganda-ridden “Backpack Full of Cash” did a hatchet job on charter schools. We were also hard at work on policy matters promoting personalized learning, advocating for innovation in rural education, and developing a tax credit proposal to help support apprenticeship and workforce training.

AND AS A HOLIDAY PRESENT to all those who care about education reform, we launched a weekly podcast. It’s called Reality Check with Jeanne Allen – because when it comes to what’s in the news about education, everyone needs a Reality Check!

NOW, AS 2018 BEGINS, we would pause for a breath, but we don’t have time. Next week we travel to the Hill to serve on a panel discussing a New Opportunity Agendafor 2018. Organized by #EdTaxCredit50 Coalition, and moderated by its Executive Director, Thomas Carroll, the panel will feature: Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO, Center for Education Reform; Lindsey M. Burke, Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy; Robert C. Enlow, President, EdChoice; and William A. Estrada, Esq., Director of Federal Relations, Home School Legal Defense Assn. Details: Jan 11, 8:30 am-10:00 am, 300 First St, SE, Washington, D.C.

SPEAKING OF UPCOMING EVENTS. National School Choice Week kicks off January 21st and runs through the 27th. For those of you who’ve been trapped in a cave since 2011 and are unaware of this annual extravaganza we’ll tell you that, last year alone, the week spawned 21,392 events in all 50 states, saw 16,786 schools participate, was endorsed by 713 elected officials, and generated more than 9,000 positive news stories that reached 222 million Americans. In addition to spreading the word about the benefits of school choice the week provides schools, individuals, and organizations with the opportunity to celebrate the benefits of school choice. You can find out more at www.schoolchoiceweek.com. Better yet, get involved!

AND IN A FINAL NOD TO THE YEAR JUST PASSED. We’ve mentioned NY EdTech Week before and will put an exclamation point on the end of last year by saying “If you missed it in 2017, DON’T MISS IT IN 2018!” It’s a fantastic gathering that this past December featured such luminaries as Basis Founders Olga and Michael Block, Success Academy’s Eva Moskowitz, College Board chief David Coleman, and Constitution Center’s Jeffery Rosen. Check out our panel with the latter two and all the excitement you missed by following @NYEDTECHWEEK And watch that space for information about this year’s opportunity to engage with some of the brightest most innovative folks in the ed tech community.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK. Reform & Resolutions. Until then, stay warm, and Happy New Year!