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A Primer List On How Digital Learning Is Boosting Achievement

October 22, 2012 By

(from WiredAcademic)

This post (“How Digital Learning Is Boosting Achievement”) by Tom Vander Ark originally appeared on GettingSmart.com

A reader commented that he wanted to get on board with digital learning but had been told there wasn’t much evidence of links to achievement. That’s dead wrong.

There are hundreds of solid pieces of evidence about digital learning. It’s true that investments to put 10 million computers in American schools did little to move the achievement needle in aggregate but that’s because it was layered on top of (or as Innosight would say, crammed into) the existing batch-print model of schooling. The same can be said for doubling staffing ratios over the last thrity years.

The potential of personalized learning technology—as evidenced in the military, gaming, corporate training, and informal learning—suggest the potential going forward is much greater that what we’ve seen to date. When technology is used to extend, personalize and transform learning, it makes a world of difference.

Following are a few dozen studies that demonstrate the promise of digital learning. The list of evidence above is is by no means an exhaustive. There are over a dozen academic journals dedicated to online learning research. We’d welcome your additions or favorite sources.

1. Blended schools achieve high performance:

  • Mooresville, NC has seen an improvement of 20 percentage points—from 68 percent to 88 percent—in the portion of its students who scored “proficient” on all core-subject state exams, in the subjects of reading, math, and science in the four years since its conversion to a 1-to-1 laptop program.
  • Rocketship Education elementary schools are top performing low-income schools in California in part because of a two hour computer learning lab.
  • Carpe Diem is a rotation model blended high school, and a top math performer in Arizona.
  • KIPP Empower: 95% of kindergartners scored at or above national in math and 96% in reading, while only 9% arrived kindergarten-ready.
  • AdvancePath: 90% enrolling in the blended learning dropout prevention network are likely to earn their high school diploma.
  • Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School, Cincinnati, was  converted to a technology-focused school and saw graduation rates skyrocket from about 21% to more than 95%.

2. Hundreds of studies of online and blended learning show efficacy:

3. Technology-enable math products have boosted achievement:

4. Digital learning offers the only path to boosting achievement in this “decade of deficits”:

  • In Digital Learning Imperative, the Alliance for Excellent Education first made the case that digital learning was the only solution to the achievement gap, the fiscal gap, and the effective teacher gap.
  • A recent U.S. Department of Education Study outlined nine ways that online learning can boost productivity.
  • The Florida Tax Watch evaluation of Florida Virtual School found, in addition to student achievement gains, that FLVS is “a bargain for Florida taxpayers. Largely because it has no expenses related to transportation or construction and maintenance of physical facilities, FLVS is able to offer computer-delivered instruction at a lower per-student cost than traditional schools.”

Digital learning will boost the percentage of US students that graduate ready for college and careers.  Internationally, the digital learning revolution offers the first opportunity in history to extend quality secondary to every young person on the planet.

Venture investor Ram Shriram in a recent interview said, “There is an important change that is finally happening [in K-12] thanks to broadband ,…tablets, and the kinds of things we are building in the Cloud…these things finally allow for democratization of knowledge. We can have each child learn at his or her own pace. It allows us to spread the best teachers, and best methods everywhere. We can lower the cost of education for those who are less able to afford it.”

Filed Under: Online Learning

Desert Trails Gets Charter

October 19, 2012 By

“LaVerne Prep wins by landslide”
by Lynnea Lombardo
Victorville Daily Press
October 19, 2012

LaVerne Preparatory Academy will be the charter school transforming Desert Trails Elementary, winning the parent vote by a landslide late Thursday night, drawing cheers and hugs from the small crowd of parents and children gathered just outside the school.

The small group of Parent Revolution workers, Desert Trails Parent Union parents and children was disbanded quickly, however, as rumors of a bomb threat circled within the crowd, sending everyone back to the Desert Trails Parent Union headquarters a few blocks away.

The threat came as no surprise to Joe Morales, a DTPU member and founder of HD Dads for Education.

“We’ve experienced opposition from the very beginning,” Morales said. “But we are victorious once again.”

LaVerne Prep in Hesperia, which serves mainly minority students, had the highest API score for charter schools in the High Desert and the highest API score in the entire Hesperia Unified School District.

“The parents made the right choice. We are going to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” said Debra Tarver, founder and executive director of LaVerne Prep, via speaker phone at the DTPU headquarters house. “Our job is the kids. We are ready to go there and do whatever it takes to get things the way they need to be.”

According to a press release from Parent Revolution, this is the first time in the United States that parents, using the Parent Trigger law, have had a direct say in who should run their failing school. For the Parent Trigger law to take effect, more than 50 percent of parents with children attending the school had to sign a petition in favor of comprehensive changes they would like to see made. The Adelanto School District Board of Trustees attempted to rescind 97 signatures of parents who claim they were misled and did not want Desert Trails to be turned into a charter. Victorville Superior Court Judge Steve Malone, however, ruled the recisions could be counted toward the total number, maintaining the 50 percent rule.

Voting was only open to those who signed the petition, even if their children left to attend other schools, said Morales, who said he had been helping with the voting since 4:30 a.m. Thursday.

DTPU originally received four proposals; however, one was rejected because it was a for-profit operator and another operator did not move forward with its proposal, according to a press release from Parent Revolution. The two remaining charter school proposals were from the Lewis Academy of Academic Excellence and LaVerne Prep. Both schools boasted high API scores and smaller than average class sizes.

If all goes smoothly for the Parent Union, LaVerne Prep is set to be fully implemented in time for the 2013-14 school year. The district has 60 days to review the charter school proposal and if the district denies it, Doreen Diaz, lead DTPU organizer, said they will appeal and take the issue to the state if need be.

“We’re hoping the district will follow through and approve it,” Diaz said. “We were supported by two judges’ orders and parents really have negotiating power.”

Alfonso Flores, lead organizer for Parent Revolution and DTPU, said Parent Revolution will be helping DTPU and LaVerne Prep through the transition.

“We are excited that we have gotten this far,” Flores said. “But this is where the real work begins.”

Filed Under: Breaking News Tagged With: ,

One Last Chance…

October 19, 2012 By

by Jeanne Allen
October 19, 2012

Soon the presidential candidates will meet for the last time to debate and with the topic focused on foreign policy, one may be tempted to think education has no place in the discussion. But one would be wrong. There are at least two critical education questions that should be addressed.

QUESTION 1: A recent report from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Chancellor of New York city schools Joel Klein found that “Educational failure puts the United States’ future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk.” The task force behind the report argued that too many young people are not qualified for the military because they do not have an adequate level of education. Do you agree with them and how would you address the issue?

QUESTION 2: Condoleezza Rice recently told a gathering of education leaders at Education Nation last month that a child in Korea learns in 3rd grade what our kids learn in 5th grade. We know that U.S. students rank 25th out of 34 on math scores among Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, with nearly one-quarter of U.S. students unable solve the easiest level of questions. Does this lack of international competitiveness concern you and what would your Administration do to address it?

In the previous two debates, President Obama and Governor Romney have talked about education in many contexts: economic, achievement, school choice, and the role of the federal government among others. In this final debate, they have one last chance to inform voters about their vision for education in the country.

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For more on where Romney and Obama camps stand on critical education issues, head over to our Education and the Presidential Candidates page.

Filed Under: Opinions Tagged With: , , , ,

Virtual Growth Trending Nationwide

October 18, 2012 By

More students than ever are taking advantage of digital learning programs. In Ohio, the number of students enrolled in online schools has increased 12-fold since 2000, the year the state got its first virtual academy.

In the Sunshine State, the Florida Virtual School has gone from 77 students fifteen years ago to 148,000 students at the end of the 2011 school year. The school saw an increase of 25,000 students in just one year alone.

Another recent report of online learning growth is out of Wisconsin. The Journal Sentinel contacted virtual schools in the Badger State about enrollment growth over the last year, and ten reported at least a 15% increase, with seven of those gaining at least 30% more students. A lot of this growth is likely attributed to a recent law that extended the timeframe for the state’s open enrollment program.

Each of these states falls in the top ten on CER’s Parent Power Index, which means all of these states have created an environment that allows parents to have choices when it comes to their child’s education. This online learning growth spurt sends a clear message that parents want and need options. So instead of parents having to fight for options “Won’t Back Down” style, wouldn’t it be nice for states to step up to the plate and start creating laws that ensure parents have these choices available to them?

Filed Under: Online Learning

EdReform’s Presidential Debate Expectations

October 16, 2012 By

by Jeanne Allen
October 16, 2012

As the Presidential candidates take to the stage tonight for the final debate on domestic issues, many reformers are wondering if we’re going to hear a real discussion on education – the most important domestic issue of our time. The last time President Obama and Governor Romney went head-to-head we were pleasantly surprised that “education” was mentioned quite often, more so than in any other presidential debate ever. However, neither candidate truly used the forum to fully discuss their vision for how to improve education in America.

Last week, we posed some questions to the Vice Presidential candidates education reformers would like to hear addressed. And since the word “education” was barely even uttered, we will pose some of them again – along with one or two others – for this evening’s debate.

Question 1: FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA. Governor Romney has proposed allowing federal money allocated for students most in need, students who are typically stuck in failing schools, to follow them to schools of choice where those programs currently exist at the state level. What is your position on this and in general, how do you now feel about providing poor children the choices you and the other candidates have been afforded?

Question 2: FOR GOVERNOR ROMNEY. You and others in your camp have said that there are not many fundamental differences on education between Romney-Ryan and Obama-Biden. What are the similarities and what are the differences?

Question 3: PRESIDENT OBAMA. In the first presidential debate you seemed to be reading off the latest poll results when you offered smaller class sizes and said you’d invest more in education to solve its problems. What is the Administration’s evidence for smaller class size impact and how much money is your administration planning to spend on helping schools lower class size? Where is the evidence that additional spending on more programs will result in student achievement gains?

Question 4: FOR ROMNEY. The Obama campaign has said that a Romney-Ryan Administration would make significant cuts in education funding. Are they right and if yes, what reductions would you make and why?

Question 5: FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA. You boast about your signature education program, Race to the Top, and suggest it had a major impact on state and local reform, including the comment made at the last debate that RtTT led to adoption of 43 new laws. What are those laws — can you name them? — and what do we know today about their impact on student achievement?

Question 6: FOR BOTH. How do you distinguish between the work of rank and file teachers, and the work of the teachers unions? What would you say to the union leadership about their positions on school choice, charter schools, performance pay, online learning? What would you say to teachers individually about your respective Administrations?

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For more on where Romney and Obama camps stand on critical education issues, head over to our Education and the Presidential Candidates page.

Filed Under: Opinions

Advocacy Group Offers a Prototype for Charter School Law

October 16, 2012 By

by Sean Cavanagh
Education Week
October 15, 2012

For the past few years, states have been busy writing and revising their laws on charter schools—in most cases, with an eye toward expansion. Today, a pro-charter advocacy group released a guide meant to give states some direction in this regard.

The Center for Education Reform’s model charter school legislation reflects the organization’s view of the features of a strong charter laws, some of which are bound to prompt disagreement.

Read the rest of the article here.

Filed Under: CER in the News Tagged With: ,

PA Lawmakers Must Oppose Proposed “Reform” of Charter School Law

October 15, 2012 By

Statement by Jeanne Allen, President, The Center for Education Reform

CER Press Release
Washington, D.C.
October 15, 2012

“Amendments to Pennsylvania’s charter school law, negotiated in recent days and awaiting legislative approval, would be a serious setback for charter school educators, leaders and parents.

“SB 1115, a bill originally designed to improve and expand quality charter schools, now gives the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), new, expanded powers over charter school finances and outcomes. Such a role for a state education department is unprecedented in states with strong charter laws. Pennsylvania charter schools are already held to the same standards as all other public schools yet they are accountable to their authorizers for meeting legal and financial requirements and performance milestones. When authorizers fail, it is time to reform the authorizing process, not give the PDE, which is already burdened by its current oversight duties, more regulatory power over schools that should be managed by better authorizers. Pennsylvania’s charter school law isn’t lacking in public accountability; it is lacking in the existence of strong authorizers.

“Yet authorizers in Pennsylvania — school districts — are often no better at managing charter schools than they are at managing traditional public schools. The issue facing lawmakers who are seeking to improve chartering is not to demand more state education agency oversight, but to create multiple authorizers. Multiple and independent authorizers which are the key to highly successful charter schools in 15 states have little oversight from their states’ education departments and give charter school parents and educators freedom from traditional bureaucracy to achieve performance successes that hamper success in too many traditional public schools. History and research have proven that strong authorizers serve the public good by fostering the creation of great public charter schools that serve children in need of options. Such charters are held to the highest financial and academic accountability requirements. Just today the Center released a model for states, The Essential Guide to Charter School Law: Model Legislation based on Experience and Practice, which provides a guidepost for lawmakers about how to make the connection between sound, independent authorizing and quality schools.

“The original charter reform proposal sponsored by Senators Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Philadelphia) and Jeffrey Piccola (R-Harrisburg) followed such practices, and by permitting state universities to authorize charter schools, would have put in motion the right formula for attacking issues that have arisen from bad school district authorizing.

“Instead of pursuing that course, some pro-charter groups believe that the current bill suits their needs, and that more oversight from the Pennsylvania Department of Education will somehow breed performance accountability, when we know that no school entity — not Harrisburg, not Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh and not a charter school — will deliver high academic performance just because they are told to do so.

“High-level legislative sources report that the Pennsylvania Education Association, the state’s teachers union which opposes the creation of independent, publicly accountable charter schools, is quietly voicing its support for the bill, as is the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

“Education Voters of Pennsylvania, a group that similarly opposes reforms out of the traditional system, posted this on their website today urging citizens to implement the proposal currently pending consideration. The group has argued that charters are funded unfairly (eg. they get local funds) and is opposed to additional authorizers that are known to breed quality charter schools. Says the group, ‘Tell your legislators that Pennsylvanians deserve a charter reform bill that implements critical funding reform and DOES NOT includes [sic] provisions for a statewide authorizer.’

“These endorsements, if nothing else, should give supporters pause.

“As the nation’s oldest and leading education reform group supporting the development of high quality and plentiful public charter schools, and having been at the front lines of the fight for the initial law, as well as working on improvements to that law over time, we respectfully urge Pennsylvania legislators to defer consideration on charter law amendments until they can fully understand the magnitude and impact of the proposed changes and are willing to bring real reforms that include multiple, independent, accountable authorizers to the charter table.”

Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With: ,

Model Charter School Legislation

October 15, 2012 By

An essential guide to charter school lawmaking grounded on experience and practice.

Press Release
Download or print your PDF copy of The Essential Guide to Charter School Lawmaking: Model Legislation for States Grounded in Experience and Practice

Filed Under: Choice & Charter Schools Tagged With: , ,

Online Learning Gains Popularity

October 15, 2012 By

“Florida virtual school growing”
by Rob Shaw
Tampa Tribune
October 15, 2012

When she taught in public schools, Jill Rogier always worried about the kids who slipped through the cracks — those who were bored because they were advanced or who struggled because they felt like they were left behind.

Now in her fifth year with Florida Virtual School, Rogier said she doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.

“If you don’t understand fractions, you don’t move on to equations with fractions,” she said. “You decide when you are ready. Your pace is your pace.”

More students apparently are learning the value of the way of life in the school without walls. The virtual school that offers more than 120 free online classes had about 25,000 more students at the end of the last school year than it did the year before.

That annual jump seems to be consistent the last several years — quite a leap from the modest 77 students enrolled in its debut 15 years ago. The school had about 148,000 students statewide at the end of the last school year, with more than 13,000 of those coming from Hillsborough County, the third highest total in Florida.

The numbers in Florida are part of a growing trend nationwide, as states try to do more with fewer education dollars.

The state saves nearly $2,200 per student who is enrolled in virtual school as opposed to the brick-and-mortar type, said Tania Clow, spokeswoman for the Florida Virtual School. A student attending a district school in Florida costs the state an average of $7,000, while one taking classes online costs the state $4,800.

To be sure, virtual schools are not without critics, who complain they deprive traditional school districts of valuable tax dollars and insulate students from socialization with their peers.

Those concerns are misplaced, supporters say.

“I can tell you I see monumental growth as parents are finding out they can tailor their child’s education to meet their needs,” said Celeste Sanchez, who works as a virtual school liaison with schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. “Parents love that they can pick and choose how their education is going to turn out.”

Sanchez speaks with firsthand knowledge from a parent’s perspective as well.

“I’ve seen what it can do,” she said. “I’ve lived what it can do.”

Two of her daughters took virtual school classes, which allowed them to graduate from Riverview High School early and begin college ahead of classmates.

The Florida Virtual School operates like its own public school district, only without school buildings. A board of directors is appointed by the governor to oversee the school.

Each teacher is responsible for as many as 25 students per class. With six class periods per day, that means teachers may have as many as 150 students they are teaching.

Seven days a week, 12 hours a day, teachers talk to students on the phone and exchange texts and instant messages with them in subjects ranging from art history to Chinese to driver’s education. They also Skype with them and do classroom lessons on camera from their home.

Just because they are learning from home doesn’t mean they are exempt from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or other state-mandated exams. Full-time virtual students must take the FCAT and other end-of-course assessments for classes such as algebra, biology and geometry.

Hillsborough County School District officials occasionally will refer students to the state’s virtual school if class-size limitations keep a student from enrolling in a class, officials say.

Once there, virtual teachers scattered across the state are willing to work as long as it takes with their students.

“If they struggle, that’s OK,” said Rogier, who also works as a mentor to some of the school’s 1,500 other virtual teachers. “Now there is no judgment. We can do it over and over.”

Sanchez likes that kids don’t have to be hesitant to raise their hand in a crowded classroom and ask a question they fear others will think is stupid.

“They begin to lose that fear of school,” she said. “It’s just amazing.”

The school is popular with students who want to get ahead in their classes, such as Sanchez’s daughters.

It also comes in handy for students who are trying to become professional singers, actors or athletes and have to dedicate several hours a day to those pursuits.

It could be a home-schooled student, or someone who has medical reasons and can’t be in a regular classroom.

Whatever the reason, the numbers continue to grow.

“I think it’s increased awareness that the choice is there and the offering is there,” said Clow, the spokeswoman for the virtual school.

Because of the growth, the school is constantly looking for more teachers to hire.

There currently is a need for about 60 new teachers, with the greatest need coming in foreign language and business courses.

“We are growing and we have students who want to enroll in classes,” Clow said. “We don’t want to inundate our teachers and change that ratio we strive for.”

Filed Under: Breaking News Tagged With: ,

Character Education Partnership: Developing Leaders of Integrity Forum

October 15, 2012 By

“Developing Leaders of Integrity” is the theme of Character Education Partnership’s annual conference this year. The forum is the place to go if you want to explore strategies and solutions that transform schools into schools of character.

The 2012 forum will be held in Washington, D.C. from November 1-4. The main forum events will take place on Friday, November 2 and Saturday, November 3, but there are more than a few interesting workshops and tours before the main events begin. These range from a workshop about how youth journalism strategies can greatly enhance the service-learning experience and academic outcomes to an educators tour of Mount Vernon that includes a presentation by Dr. Peter Henriques from George Mason University, an expert on George Washington.

Character Education Partnership is offering scholarships to DC-area educators (MD, VA, & DC) who wish to attend the conference.

Please see CEP’s website for more details on this great event!

Filed Under: Teacher Quality
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