In the first day of our check-in on Ohio’s e-schools, we saw how increases in enrollment were driven by only four statewide schools. Yesterday, we saw that about a third of all students at Ohio’s e-schools had been enrolled for under a year – a figure that calls attention to the challenge of measuring e-school accountability. But the majority of Ohio’s rated e-schools were mediocre Continue Reading »

Yesterday, we examined the 2010-11 enrollment numbers for Ohio’s e-schools and uncovered some curious trends. While the e-school sector as a whole experienced its largest post-moratorium increase, that growth was driven by only four statewide schools. Today, we revisit performance and student mobility and their relationship to e-school enrollment.

Ohio performance indicators for 2010-11 Continue Reading »

My new column for Education Next takes a wider view of the “flipping” class phenomenon:

Four years ago, in the shadow of Colorado’s Pike’s Peak, veteran Woodland Park High School chemistry teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams stumbled onto an idea. Struggling to find the time to reteach lessons for absent students, they plunked down $50, bought software that allowed Continue Reading »

This past May, Education Sector examined Ohio’s 27 online “e-schools,” public charter schools that operate entirely online and which students “attend” on a full-time basis. These schools’ performance and demographic characteristics varied widely, but not necessarily in connection with the three classifications of the schools: local, regional, and statewide, based on their geographic reach. OContinue Reading »

Two new reports, from Minnesota and Colorado, offer additional insights into online learning’s rapid and rocky growth. These reports, combined with data from both Pennsylvania and Ohio, reinforce the necessity for policymakers, educators, and online learning advocates to pay as much attention to quality as they do to expansion.

Highlights from the Minnesota report, conducted by thContinue Reading »

Earlier this year, Larry Cuban and I had a brief back-and-forth about the prospects for online learning — particularly with regards to helping/harming students most at-risk. Fortunately, Education Next has just published an article exploring this very issue.

In “Getting At-Risk Teens to Graduation: Blended learning offers a second chance,” June Kronholz writes about PerContinue Reading »

On Wednesday, the Fordham Institute released “Quality Control in K-12 Digital Learning: Three (Imperfect) Approaches,” the first in a series of six papers exploring critical issues in digital learning. Written by Rick Hess, the paper recognizes the importance of efforts to ensure that new digital learning endeavors meet a high bar for quality. And, it offers a helpful framework, outContinue Reading »

We’re celebrating our 5th Anniversary this year. We know a lot can happen in five years, and we’re proud to have done our part in shaping education reform over the years. So, over the next few weeks, we’ll be reflecting on some of our past work just to see how far it’s come: What drew our analysts to the work? How have the issues evolved? And what’s next? Our “retrContinue Reading »

This is the second part of a two-post series reflecting on my visit to Brooklyn’s David A. Boody Intermediate School (IS 228), one of New York City’s three School of One pilot schools.

With national media attention, promising — though very preliminary — initial results, and strong public/private support, School of One, though just a few years old, is already being hailed as Continue Reading »

Yesterday morning, I took the long “F” train ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn’s David A. Boody Intermediate School (IS 228), one of New York City’s three School of One pilot schools. I walked away impressed — as most do from a tour like this. But, I also realized that in many discussions, we’re having the wrong conversation about what we could learn from pilotContinue Reading »