It’s been almost seven years since I sat with Sara Mead and Kevin Carey in Kevin’s living room, struggling to hear Andy Rotherham and Tom Toch on a static-filled Blackberry speakerphone as we made plans for a new organization called Education Sector. Five months later we launched the organization and since then, it’s been a wonderful ride.

Now’s my time to say gooContinue Reading »

Writing in Forbes, Josh Barro highlights why public sector pension reform is such an important issue — in even the deepest blue of states like California and Illinois. In Illinois, as the chart below shows, pension expenditures have risen from 6 percent of general fund spending in 2008 to a proposed 15 percent of spending in fiscal year 2013.

Illinois did tackle pension refContinue Reading »

Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski made the Obama Administration’s big announcement at yesterday’s Digital Learning Day festivities: the release of a “digital textbook playbook” to support the goal of ensuring that every student has a digital textbook in the next five years. The playbook is a helpful resource, the federal involvement helps to legitimize tContinue Reading »

Educators from coast-to-coast will celebrate the nation’s first Digital Learning Day on Wednesday. Amidst the cool technology demonstrations, shiny gadgets, and debates about online learning, it’s essential not to overlook the country’s most expensive — and perhaps most ambitious — initiative to use digital technology.

Just under 18 months ago, the U.S. DepaContinue Reading »

Editor’s Note: Last week, Education Sector released On Her Majesty’s School Inspection Service, which outlines how school inspections have become part of the accountability system in England. Would such a system work in the U.S.? We asked a variety of education experts to weigh in with their thoughts. We’ll share them throughout the week, and we encourage you to share your reactions as weContinue Reading »

Editor’s Note: Last week, Education Sector released On Her Majesty’s School Inspection Service, which outlines how school inspections have become part of the accountability system in England. Would such a system work in the U.S.? We asked a variety of education experts to weigh in with their thoughts. We’ll share them throughout the week, and we encourage you to share your reactions as well.Continue Reading »

The Costs of Online Learning, the latest in Fordham’s digital learning policy series, tackles the tricky question of per-pupil spending. And while the paper cannot offer definitive answers for policymakers and school leaders, it does provide a helpful primer on the overall economics of online and blended learning.

The top-line findings, that blended learning models cost an estimated $8,9Continue Reading »

The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) could easily declare victory. Since its founding in 2005, the majority of states have made tremendous progress implementing the 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Data Systems. And those that lag behind, through their acceptance of State Fiscal Stabilization Fund stimulus money, have committed to do so. Kudos to DQC for recognizing that despite these essential foContinue Reading »

New 2009-10 school year survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics confirms the rapid growth of K-12 technology-based distance education enrollments, from an estimated 317,070 in 2002-03 to 506,950 in 2004-05 to 1,816,400 in 2009-10*.

Source: NCES

While growth is no surprise, here are six more interesting insights:

Sunday’s New York Times story broke the news that Stanford University, one of the world’s most prestigious research institutions, is putting its brand squarely behind a full-time, degree-granting online high school program. It’s just one more reason to set aside the silly debate about whether online education can possibly be effective for high school students.

Stanford&Continue Reading »