Big news from Bellwether today – we’re launching a new organization.
Last week I wrote about how “rig to flip” is good advice for education and life as well as on rivers and how we’re doing the opposite for too many college students.
Scroll down the main page for some edujobs.
Bellwether’s Taylor Seale on ed tech infrastructure and rural education:
I saw this firsthand as a rural educator in South Carolina, where frequent computer failures made it nearly impossible to implement technology-enabled personalized learning. In my former school district, using ed technology wasn’t just suggested — for many classes, it was required. Each week, my class went to the computer lab to work on a literacy program purchased by the school. When the computers worked, the program was a hit — it allowed my students to advance at their own pace and to focus on personalized standards and skills.
Each time we visited the lab, however, a new problem emerged: often, the internet didn’t work at all. If the internet worked, then half of the desktops were down. Sometimes we’d make it all the way through the login stage before the desktops began crashing, and I’d watch as a sea of hands flew up around the room. After five failed visits, I quit going to the lab completely.
One-to-one iPad programs and community-wide internet may be part of ed tech’s future, but for my former students, it is far from a working reality. And this isn’t just a rural issue: students and teachers in some underserved urban communities also lack the necessary tech infrastructure.
David Cantor takes a deep dive into how parents choose schools.
Elsewhere:
There seems to be some disagreement about race and school choice. And more here on the same issue.
Results for American on ESSA, evidence, and what’s happening in the states.
So, a plea to my fellow progressives: Let’s worry less about ideology and more about how to help kids learn.
