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    • Jonathan Butcher
    • Jack Coons
    • Dan Lips
    • Chris Stewart
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Technology and Innovation

Commentary and OpinionCustomizationFeaturedParent EmpowermentPodcastTechnology and Innovation

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews LearningEdge founder Chris Sturgis

redefinED staff November 12, 2020
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with a leading expert on the subject of competency-based education, an approach that allows students to advance based on their ability to master a skill or competency at their own pace regardless of the educational setting. Sturgis developed a deep understanding of competency-based education by visiting more than 100 schools in the United States and New Zealand that are leading the way toward a better model that is veering away from the A-F grading system.

https://www.redefinedonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Chris-Sturgis_EDIT.mp3

Tuthill and Sturgis discuss how more traditional ranking and sorting education models must be reorganized around a more humane system in which students focus on developing strong social-emotional skills such as self-management, empathy, and relationship management.

“I think the No. 1 mistake schools make is not taking enough time to analyze the traditional system, why it was designed, and what the implications are … There is a lot of pressure to keep this system in place.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       How the current rank-and-sort education model creates a caste system that damages children of all income levels

·       How assessments can be more formative to inform better teaching and learning

·       Collaboration possibilities in competency-based learning environments

·       Empowering families and communities to have more control over their children’s education and aligning their decisions with best scientific knowledge of how children learn

·       Exchanging the modern definition of success as measured by economic wellbeing in favor of one that allows for greater happiness

November 12, 2020 0 comment
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Charter SchoolsCommentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceEducation EquityFeaturedPodcastSchool ChoiceTechnology and Innovation

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Friendship Public Charter School CEO Patricia Brantley

redefinED staff November 4, 2020
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with the leader of a cohort of 16 charter schools in the Washington, D.C., area that primarily educate families of color. The two discuss how Friendship, which serves more than 4,500 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade, has adapted its education delivery in the wake of the global pandemic.

https://www.redefinedonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Pat-Brantley_FINAL.mp3

 Brantley observes that one of her biggest surprises has been feedback from families of students with special needs who say their children are less distracted, learning more, and getting better personalized feedback from their teachers in digital or hybrid learning environments. She discusses with Tuthill the unbundling of education services to provide families with more flexibility and options, the growing trend of families creating small “pod” schools in their homes, and the necessity of providing internet access to all children to ensure educational equity.

“Adults need to think differently, and they need to catch up with kids … (Families in pods) are getting an amazing education. But that education is owed to all our children regardless of their parents’ resources. We need to figure out how we’re going to get it delivered to them.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       What Friendship has learned over the past two semesters of innovation and how it plans to improve for the future

·       Creating a robust professional development system for Friendship’s teachers and staff

·       Strengths of the digital environment and how technological advancements can personalize education

·       The benefits of unbundling education services and the ways entrenched systems may react and adapt

November 4, 2020 0 comment
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Blog GuestCommentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19CustomizationEducation ChoiceFeaturedHomeschoolingJulie YoungMicroschoolsParental ChoiceSchool ChoiceTechnology and InnovationVirtual Education

Five post-pandemic predictions for online and blended learning

Julie Young October 27, 2020
Julie Young

Editor’s note: With this commentary, redefinED welcomes Julie Young as our newest guest blogger. Founding CEO and former president of Florida Virtual School, Young serves as vice president of education outreach and student services at Arizona State University and is managing director of Arizona State University’s Prep Academy and ASU Prep Digital.

As the world continues to work through the pandemic, teachers and students are back in school wading through the new realities of whatever “school” means these days. Among other things, the pandemic has certainly challenged any notions of a “typical” school model. Indeed, if there is any commonality among schools right now, it is that “typical” may no longer exist.

Where will things go from here?

As we wondered aloud about this, we landed on a few predictions, based on our view of the industry in this moment, and our look back at how trends in tech adoption have played out over the years. Here are a few thoughts:

The switch to tech-supported learning is permanent.

While our natural tendency to look at the past with nostalgia is strong, especially during such turbulent times, educators seem to agree that after this mass exodus to remote learning, things will never go back to exactly what they were. This is both good and bad.

On the negative side, no digital learning professional would have wished 2020 on any teacher. Instantly rolling into remote learning was truly a worst-case scenario. What ensued was more about patching holes and saving the ship than proactively building the ship in the harbor and preparing for launch. Teachers have heroically moved forward, but few will disagree with the idea that today’s version of remote learning is not a permanent landing spot.

Because of the rough transition, it’s not surprising that we have lost teachers in the process, especially those on the cusp of retirement or early in their careers. After weighing the frustrations versus the option to leave, some are opting for the exit, especially in light of the reality that once school is “normalized,” digital learning is highly likely to play a bigger role.

On the upside, some teachers who are willing to take on the task of learning both the tools and the strategies for working effectively within online environments have found the online or blended environment to be invigorating. One seasoned teacher told us recently that teaching online for the first time opened up a whole new world of learning to him, helping him to address his own stagnancy.

At our site-based locations, where classes are still largely remote, students and teachers alike are becoming accustomed to some of the new Web 2.0 tools they have adopted. As teachers use various online tools, they often find new ways to incorporate them into their instructional planning. Since many of the tools teachers are using are free or low cost, we expect the uptick in use of digitally supported learning tools is here to stay, even in brick and mortar schools.

Many students will stay online.

Right now, full-time online learning programs are seeing huge enrollments spikes. In fact, as the 2020 school year approached, here in the network of ASU Preparatory Schools, where ASU Prep Digital lives, we saw many parents hedging their bets – enrolling students in both site-based and the fully online school.

We expect that there will be some “leveling out” when parents have more options for a traditional face-to-face environment and want to go back to what is familiar. At the same time, we know there will be parents and students who may have formerly been averse to an online learning environment but are now seeing benefits that they don’t want to lose, particularly the greater sense of student agency.

Innovation and model experimentation will increase.

Now that teachers and administrators in traditional schools have had to build new models in the worst possible conditions, they will soon be able to take stock of their new knowledge and apply it in a much more proactive and strategic manner.

We expect to see more innovation arising from the pandemic once educators can catch their breath. Over the years, we have always found that when teachers have space to try something new, they become the best source of information on how to improve the innovation on behalf of students.  

Alternative school ideas – ‘unschool,’ micro-schools, learning pods, homeschooling, ‘outschool’ – will continue to increase.

Years ago, homeschooling was considered a radical notion, a fringe idea for hippies or religious groups. Today, homeschool is mainstream, and similar ideas are taking form.

“Micro-schools,” which harken back to the one-room schoolhouse notion, were already seeing growth before the pandemic. Micro-schools could be seen as an alternative for those who like the creativity homeschools affords, but they either don’t want to teach their own kids or don’t have the option to do so.

Homeschooling and even “unschooling” models, where curriculum is determined by the student’s interests versus a pre-set curriculum, now have access to online material to enhance and support student learning.

The flexibility inherent in alternative programs like these may be something parents increasingly want to see. While having the kids at home is an untenable situation for some families, others have found themselves surprised by the joy of simply being able to watch their kids in the moment of discovery.

Which leads us to the last point.

Notions about how and when students progress will continue to change.

For some time now, we’ve seen signs that old ideas about how a student progresses through material and grade levels are changing.

At the college level, the trend toward incremental learning with shorter-term certifications and stackable credentials has taken hold. This “incremental learning” trend has moved into the high school and even lower grade levels, with students now able to receive badges and other forms of recognition for learning mastery.

We have always known that students don’t all progress at the same rate, and progression across disciplines and skill areas also varies from one student to the next. For years, though, the idea of building a K-20 learning environment where competency and mastery determine advancement versus age or grade levels was hard to imagine.

Today, digital content and data tools are making it easier to envision a time when students will work toward achieving more and more mastery along a competency pathway, versus a course or grade level.  At ASU Prep Digital, we already offer glimpses of this model by pulling down college on/off pathways into the high school program.

Students can opt for in-course college paths to get college credit while still in high school. Our full-time students can potentially earn up to 48 college credits at no cost throughout their high school career at no cost to the families. ASU Prep Digital continually works with innovation centers throughout the university to identify university materials and assets that can be repurposed for learning and for college and career readiness for high school students.

The wholesale dive into remote learning was a worst-case scenario. With every crisis, though, innovations arise, and we expect the pandemic to yield a new cadre of newly equipped educators who are ready to implement new possibilities they wouldn’t have explored otherwise.

October 27, 2020 4 comments
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Commentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityEducation PollingFeaturedMicroschoolsParental ChoiceSchool ChoiceTechnology and InnovationUnionism

The empire strikes out

Matthew Ladner October 19, 2020
Matthew Ladner

What is thy bidding my master?

I have felt it.

It will be very difficult to conceal, but if we would agree to reopen the large schools …

Yes, my master…

What about the organizations that are providing devices and public funding for instructors? The ones addressing the equity issues rather than merely talking about them?

A recent EdChoice poll found that about one-third of parents who responded to its survey are participating in pandemic pods, and that a majority – 53% – either are participating or looking to form a pod. The following graphic accompanied poll results, providing parents’ explanations for why they are participating, why they’re wanting to begin participating, or why they are not planning to participate in the practice.

Last week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey hosted Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in Phoenix. Districts, charter and mico-school leaders and parents spoke about innovative school models, one of which was a school formed by members of the Black Mother’s Forum in cooperation with Prenda, an Arizona-based micro-school organization.

The Wall Street Journal noted an opposition report to micro-schools delivered to the National Education Association concerning these types of schools in general and Prenda in particular.

“The Opposition Report has documented widespread support for micro-schools,” it read. The NEA opposition report cites an expert who thinks micro-schools can “address some of the structural limitations of homeschooling,” such as parents’ work obligations, and — this is Prenda’s innovation — take advantage of school choice programs to “alleviate some equity issues” posed by the cost of hiring your own teachers. The combination could make home education feasible for millions more families.

The NEA opposition report goes on, predictably, to raise concerns about pods increasing achievement gaps. The Wall Street Journal sagely notes this view goes beyond the nonsensical.

It’s a strange pitch from the teachers union: micro-schools are dangerous — they help their students learn more! This seems like a reason to broaden access, not restrict it. And that’s what Prenda has done by eliminating tuition: make micro-schools accessible to low-income families.

So, if you are scoring at home, the NEA opposes public schools reopening. It also opposes parents innovating to provide their children with in-person instruction and socialization due to equity concerns. If someone actually addresses equity concerns by paying the in-person instructor, providing computer and internet access, they are really against it.

If parents are watching all of this, including the harm it is doing to the education of their children, I can imagine their reaction might look something like this:

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.rapgenius.com%2F3b7d0ab92ca749210ddc1fa2099d9336.320x137x88.gif&f=1&nofb=1

October 19, 2020 0 comment
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Coronavirus / COVID-19CustomizationEducation ChoiceFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipNewsParental ChoicePrivate SchoolsSchool ChoiceTechnology and Innovation

Reopening online was right choice for this faith-based Orlando school

Lisa Buie October 8, 2020
Lisa Buie

Alpha Learning Academy fifth-grader Kamille Green started the new school year at her dining room table after a parent survey informed school leaders that most families were not ready to return to in-person learning.

Shakelia Henderson found herself in a tough spot.

The principal of Alpha Learning Academy had planned for a brick-and-mortar school re-opening based on declining COVID-19 numbers at the start of the summer, bolstered by parent surveys indicating families wanted their children back on campus. She and her team were excitedly making plans to be one of five Florida schools chosen to participate in a research project that required the use of a new curriculum.

But then in July, the number of coronavirus cases started climbing. Alpha families worried about health risks to their children and began having second thoughts about sending them to class. Some teachers also expressed concern about the risks of face-to-face instruction.

Henderson had to step back and reconsider. Should she forge ahead, as many other schools around the state were doing, and hope for the best? Or should she reopen online and have faith that her staff would be able to embrace the new ways of teaching in a virtual scenario?

Once again, she turned to her families, asking them to participate in another survey. Based on the response, Alpha Learning Academy classes resumed Aug. 31, all online.

Looking back, says Henderson, an experienced administrator who plans to pursue a doctorate at the University of Central Florida, she and her staff made the right choice.

“Taking a look at where we were and ordering PPE materials, I know school building-wise and maintenance-wise we weren’t ready,” she said. “A lot of our children have grandparents living in the home. There were so many layers to the decision.”

While parents elsewhere in the state and the nation staged protests and sued districts when their schools chose to reopen online, Alpha Learning Academy’s families embraced the decision to hold off. Based on reports from some experts, race may have played a role.

Districts where the vast majority of students are white have been more than three times as likely to reopen in person as school districts that enroll mostly students of color according to an analysis conducted by the Associated Press and Chalkbeat. The analysis attributed those findings in part to the fact that the pandemic has hit minority communities disproportionately hard, prompting more parents there to favor online learning.

Meanwhile, a survey of parents by the advocacy group EdChoice showed that 26% of Black parents said they were “extremely likely” to choose remote learning in the fall compared with 20% of white and Hispanic parents. In a related poll, Education Next found Black and Hispanic parents were more satisfied than white parents with their e-learning experiences.

Henderson sees her school reflected in those statistics.

Alpha Learning Academy, launched nearly 25 years ago, is sponsored by a church with predominantly Black membership. Nearly all its students are Black. All 144 participate in state scholarship programs, with 62% receiving the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, administered by Step Up For Students, host of this blog.

From the first day of the new school year, things have run smoothly, and enrollment has held steady, Henderson said.

“Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, our students beamed with joy to have the interaction and learning experience,” she said.

The transition to the new curriculum has gone smoothly as well.

“They are delivering it like a champ,” she said of her teachers. “Parents are seeing a difference in their children’s math and reading, and they really like the critical thinking skills they are seeing.”

While the pandemic undeniably has been a source of stress, it’s also been a motivator for the school, spurring creativity and innovation. Henderson has launched an online app called Group Me to organize her teachers and parents into collaborative groups for streamlined communication, recognition and celebration, a direct result of the need to move to online learning.

Henderson said she will reassess soon whether to reopen campus for the second quarter, which starts at the end of the month.

It won’t be easy. The school’s footprint is small, and common spaces such as the lobby are shared with the school’s sponsor, St. Mark AME Church. Henderson is working on enhancing safety protocols such as having students remain in cohorts, having teachers rotate among classes to reduce student movement, and possibly using the church fellowship hall to allow for more social distancing.  

Henderson recognizes that choices are important, and she wants to offer as many as possible so that each family can decide what is best for their child.

“We are currently exploring if we want to provide more options for parents such as modified schedules and continuing distance learning,” she said. “We are keeping a close eye on COVID-19 numbers and reports from the Department of Health to help us make the best decision.”

October 8, 2020 0 comment
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Commentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19Course ChoiceCustomizationEducation ChoiceFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastPublic School ChoiceSchool ChoiceTechnology and InnovationVirtual Education

revisitED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill follows up with Florida Virtual School president and CEO Louis Algaze

redefinED staff October 7, 2020
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill catches up with the educational leader who became FLVS’ president and CEO in July 2019. Since the two last spoke in May, Florida’s fully accredited online public school district has seen an increase of 3,700 students and now fulfills more than 200,000 part-time flexible course requests statewide and beyond.

https://www.redefinedonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FLVSUpdate_EDIT.mp3

Tuthill and Algaze discuss what has worked thus far for FLVS as well as improvement opportunities that will allow the school to continue providing virtual instruction for the great number of families who want it. Algaze also reflects on his surprise at the last-minute jump in the number of families interested in virtual classes even after school districts reopened with in-person instruction.

“It is all about choice. Wherever parents want to put their kids is what we are trying to help accommodate.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       How FLVS’ rapid expansion in the wake of COVID-19 is progressing so far

·       What FLVS staff members are hearing from families about online learning experiences

·       How FLVS’ competency-based model is being incorporated into the more rigid district education model and what that could mean for the future

·       How FLVS is focusing on developing instructional materials for school districts so they can fluidly serve students moving back and forth from virtual to in-person learning

LINK MENTIONED:

Florida Virtual School Online Learning and Training Community

To hear Tuthill’s earlier podcast with Algaze, click here.

October 7, 2020 0 comment
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Catholic SchoolsCommentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation Savings AccountsEducator VoicesFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastReligious EducationSchool ChoiceTechnology and Innovation

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews leaders of Miami Catholic Virtual School

redefinED staff September 30, 2020
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School principal Rebeca Bautista, left, and coordinator of special programs Marcey Ayers. The online school is the only Catholic virtual school in the country run by an Archdiocese – a Catholic version of the well-known Florida Virtual School, which provides a robust curriculum to public, private, charter and homeschool families and school districts nationwide.

https://www.redefinedonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ADOMV_EDIT.mp3

The three discuss why the school was created and how it enhances existing curriculum options for Catholic families nationwide –as far flung as Alaska. While Bautista and Ayers say flexibility has been the key driver of their success, they agree more flexibility is needed, perhaps through an expansion of education scholarship accounts that would allow families greater customization of their children’s education.

“Before (the pandemic) there was a misconception of what virtual education was, that it was easier or not legitimate … Now parents and schools are realizing virtual education can help students and schools grow …. It’s going to bring virtual to the forefront.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

How “partner schools” can augment their existing offerings with Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School’s platform and curriculum

How teaching in a competency-based system has allowed the school to better meet student needs

Catholic schools on the creative forefront of “unbundling” education

Legislation changes necessary to bring more customization and flexibility to families

LINKS MENTIONED:

RedefinED: Catholic Virtual School Offers Options to Families Seeking Online Faith-Based Education

September 30, 2020 0 comment
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Commentary and OpinionDemographic ResearchEducation and Public PolicyFeaturedTechnology and Innovation

Re-engineering the K-12 capsule for a difficult future

Matthew Ladner September 28, 2020
Matthew Ladner

Back in 2015, I did a study on age-dependency ratios and the takeaway was simple: The status-quo is not an option.

The ratio, created by demographers, is based upon the fact that at any given point in time, society has people both too young and too old to be working and paying taxes. As a society, we invest funds in the hope of educating our youth, and we invest public funds to look after the health and retirement needs of the elderly. Members of the working-age population are the ones paying for most of this at any given time.

Lots of working-age people and relatively few young/old, easy. Lots of old/young and few working age people, difficult. Life is getting more difficult by the day, and COVID-19 kicked off an already sure-to-be-challenging decade with additional difficulties. The need for innovation has only increased.

America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries enjoyed the benefit of having a large Baby Boom generation with members in their prime working years. This created strong economic growth that financed increased youth education and elderly benefits simultaneously.

These days, however, with approximately 10,000 Boomers reaching the age of 65 per day, we soon will reach the point where half the generation will be that age, and by 2030, all surviving Baby Boomers will be 65 or older. This is going to get interesting, especially in retirement destination states like Arizona and Florida.

The math on age-dependency ratios is straightforward: Add your under-18 population to your 65-and-older population and then divide by your 18- to 64-year-old population. If you think of this in terms of how many people are riding in society’s cart and how many are pushing it, Florida’s age-dependency ratio in 2010 was 63 riding in the cart for every 100 pushing it. Census Bureau projections for 2030 have the number riding in the cart to 89.

The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, foreseeing less migration to Florida and lower birth rates, has projected the age-dependency ratio will “only” move to 78 by 2030. Either way, the cart is going to get a lot harder to push.

So, the current decade always was going to be challenging, even before the appearance of the COVID-19 global pandemic. It’s hard to say just how much worse the pandemic has made things, but the long-term damage could be considerable.

An implicit assumption of the age-dependency ratio is that your working age population is, well, working. If not, you can effectively move them from pushing the cart to riding in it. The world of 2030 and beyond will not easily grant a “do over” to 20-somethings who missed their literacy acquisition window during a pandemic.

Despite the scale of the unfolding challenge, Americans are delightfully inventive and capable of rising to challenges. North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, for instance, recently described a bold new initiative to deliver digital learning and custodial care to students in his city:

On Monday, in partnership with Clark County, the city of North Las Vegas launched the Southern Nevada Urban Micro Academy, which is providing badly needed education options and support in our city. Children who otherwise likely would be given a jar of peanut butter and told not to answer the door while their parents work and CCSD remains virtual instead are attending in-person homeschool co-op learning sessions, receiving live tutoring and participating in enriching, fun activities in a safe, socially distant environment at a cost of just $2 per day.

This in-person learning will support proven online home-school curricula that allow children to progress at their own pace while still meeting — and in many cases exceeding — Nevada Academic Content Standards.

It is unclear just how many American children have functionally been given a jar of peanut butter and unsupervised remote learning during 2020. Too many, one suspects, and the implications of this will only begin to become clear over the course of many years.

Is the North Las Vegas model a solution? We won’t know until we try it, but I’m willing to go all in that it beats the peanut butter method. Bravo to Mayor Lee for stepping up to the plate with an innovative solution. We will need much more of this sort of can-do spirit during the decade ahead.

September 28, 2020 0 comment
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