Searching for the reality of virtual schools
You’re probably reading this on a screen – whether a monitor, a phone, or a tablet – providing more evidence that digital content is ubiquitous. Likewise, its place in public education is not a matter of debate; it is inevitable. But school leaders and education policymakers do need to consider how to manage the influx [...] |
NAEP science: gaining ground, but a long way to go
Eighth-graders in 2011 did better in science than their counterparts did two years before. Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment improved for every racial, ethnic and income group and achievement gaps are narrower. That’s the good news. But there’s still a long road ahead to proficiency, especially for Black, Latino [...] |
Invest in technology that works
Jay Mathews over at the Washington Post thinks that Online Courses May Make Graduation Too Easy. He may be right, he may be wrong, but as the Center’s report on credit recovery programs found, unfortunately, we just don’t know. There just isn’t any research out there to determine if providing online courses to students who are [...] |
Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium: Math in a mall
As a graduate of Virginia Tech, I was interested in the Washington Post’s story on online learning in its Math Emporium. I think the story points out some of the characteristics we’re discovering about online learning through our research. Briefly, the Emporium works like this: In a large, renovated department store inside a mall, computers [...] |
Excelling, yet unprepared
If you haven’t read Darryl Robinson’s opinion piece in The Washington Post, you should. His piece, “I went to some of D.C.’s better schools. I was still unprepared for college.” tells of his struggle in his first year at Georgetown University to go from simply reciting facts to analyzing and evaluating material. “My former teachers,” [...] |