A few concluding thoughts on the excellent posts from the Smarter Data Systems series guest bloggers:
Laurence Holt is spot-on in his call for a clear theory of action for data systems and the use of data. We need to get serious about drawing the through line for how all that data actually impacts teaching and [...]
It’s tragic that our country — home of Silicon Valley and countless technology innovations — lags in broadband penetration and speed. The new National Broadband Plan, released today, tries to offer solutions. Importantly, the plan focuses not just on technology, but the actual uses of that technology. It includes an entire section for education-related recommendations, [...]
Part VIII of the Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Arthur VanderVeen, Chief of Innovation, New York City Department of Education:
… it is astoundingly difficult to impact day-to-day classroom practices. And unless we design data systems with a primary goal of improving classroom teaching and learning, our investments will show little [...]
Part VII of the Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Lori Fey, Director Policy Initiatives, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation:
Bill Tucker and the Education Sector make important and relevant points about next-generation data systems in Five Design Principles for Smarter Data Systems to Support Student Learning. We should [...]
Part VI of this week’s Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Laurence Holt, EVP and Chief Product Officer for Wireless Generation, and an author of And Now For Something Completely Different, a guide to Instructional Improvement Systems from which the post below is adapted:
Dear Finalist,
First, congratulations! I assume you are busy [...]
Part V of this week’s Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Ben Boer, Senior Policy Associate at Advance Illinois:
Education Sector’s five principles for use of data re-imagine the relationship between data and education. Today, too much good data lives in silos — in state agencies, in districts, in schools, even at [...]
Part IV of this week’s Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Dr. Heather Weiss, Founder and Director of the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP):
Education Sector’s five design principles powerfully reframe the conversation about how, when and where to use data to support student learning so that it will not die in [...]
Part III of this week’s Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Vincent Cho, M.Ed., former teacher and assistant principal, now a PhD student and researcher on educational data use at The University of Texas at Austin:
Education Sector’s Five Design Principles raises important questions about the technology tools we provide to schools. [...]
Part II of this week’s Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series–a guest post from Norton Gusky, Coordinator of Educational Technology, Fox Chapel Area School District (PA):
We began a concentrated focus on using data about six years ago. We made the common mistake of purchasing an administrative system that really did nothing for teachers–and more [...]
Part I of this week’s Five Principles for Smarter Data Systems series:
In the past decade, school districts and states have spent more than a billion dollars to build and implement data systems. Data about student learning—and the systems that collect, organize, and report on this data—are what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls “the [...]
Better Benefits: Reforming Teacher Pensions for a Changing Work Force
Forty-seven states have unfunded pension liabilities, and collectively the gap between what states owe to current and future retirees and what they have saved totals almost $500 billion. But the problems with teacher pensions are not just financial, and they do not just affect individual teachers and retirees, argue Chad Aldeman and Andrew J. Rotherham in this new Education Sector report. The way pension plans are structured can negatively influence the teaching work force as a whole, they say.
The Course of Innovation: Using Technology to Transform Higher Education
The National Center for Academic Transformation has helped a number of colleges redesign courses to both improve student learning and save costs. With higher education facing its worst fiscal environment in a generation, it would seem that all institutions would adopt these proven reforms. But this is not the case. In this new Education Sector report, Policy Analyst Ben Miller highlights successful redesign models as well as the barriers to innovation in higher education.
09/03/10 | Kris Amundson gives Virginia policymakers a true/false quiz on the condition of K-12 public education in the state.
09/02/10 | Elena Silva compares two proposals for the next generation of computer-based assessments funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
09/01/10 | Forrest Hinton explains why consumer choice and market forces are currently weak influences on higher education quality. 
09/01/10 | Chad Aldeman's and Kevin Carey's thoughts on value-added teacher evaluations are featured in The Atlantic