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Reimagining Assessment

Enlarged City School District of Middletown: Measuring Teacher Practice Alongside Student Results

This district in upstate New York is partnering with Education Elements to measure the impact of personalized learning on student achievement.
New Designs for School

Blended Learning Teaching Assistant Handbook

Ideas and Tips for a Blended Learning Teaching Assistant from Aspire Public Schools.
New Designs for School

Go Blended!: A Handbook for Blending Technology in Schools

Go Blended! is a practical implementation guide for educators interested in getting blended learning off the ground.

Throughout the book teachers with blended learning experience share helpful tips and lesson plans to help educators make purposeful choices in using technology to fulfill students' needs without becoming an end in itself. This useful guide also offers key documents and timelines to support a blended learning implementation and provides step-by-step practical advice for avoiding mistakes.

In Go Blended! you'll learn how to:

  • Investigate leadership and staff readiness to "go blended."
  • Learn how to evaluate and purchase the right educational software.
  • Keep the program's goals in mind throughout the development process.
  • Teach lessons that set students up for success when using classroom technology.
  • Tailor the program to the students, not the other way around.

Author Liz Arney is a seasoned developer of blended learning programs at Aspire Public Schools, and she also closely collaborates with district and charter leaders from across the country on this work.

Aspire Public Schools, February 2015
New Designs for School

School Design Blueprint: Lodestar

The School Design Blueprint is a design document that outlines the school’s plan for transforming its current school model to one that better serves the unique needs of every student. The blueprint is structured to answer four main design questions:

  1. What is our theory of action for solving our greatest systemic challenges?
  2. What will the future student experience look like when we succeed?
  3. What will we implement next year that gets us closer to our long-term vision?
  4. How will we continuously roll out new features of our model and engage stakeholders in the work over time?
Professional Learning

Startup Teacher Education: A Fresh Take on Teacher Credentialing

By Thomas Arnett, Christensen Institute

As education reformers across the country are working to improve student outcomes at scale, many are focusing on improving the teaching force. This case study describes how three groups of charter management organizations—High Tech High in San Diego; Uncommon Schools, KIPP, and Achievement First in New York; and Match Education in Boston—created their own teacher certification and master’s degree programs after concluding that the teachers who graduate from most traditional teacher education programs lack the skills needed to teach successfully.
New Designs for School

Profile: Monument Academy Public Charter School

This new residential school is intended to meet the unique needs of students in foster care. Monument Academy will be designed on five pillars: excellent academics, wraparound services and extended learning time, family engagement, life skills, and emotional and physical well-being.
Reimagining Assessment

Workshop School Gateway Project

Scoring and feedback sheet, review criteria, and review guide
New Designs for School

Request for Proposals (RFP) Wave IV: Breakthrough School Models for College Readiness (now closed)

This RFP is closed.

EDUCAUSE, through Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC), offered this Request for Proposals (RFP) for two types of grants—launch and planning grants—from developers of new or redesigned whole-school, breakthrough learning models at the secondary level (students within grades 6–12; see Table 1).

National Fund: Cycle 2 of $12 Million for New & Redesigned Schools Serving Students Within Grades 6–12
Application Deadlines: December 2, 2013 (Launch) and January 13, 2014 (Planning)

Identifies 7 design principles for breakthrough schools, the problem we are trying to solve, overview of grants available and application process, and instructions to apply. 
Why Schools Need to Change

Introduction and Overview of the MyWays Student Success Series

This report describes the initiative to create a composite definition of student success in learning, work, and life, drawing on over 25 highly-regarded frameworks and the literature in the education, work, and human development fields. In addition, the project’s four “through-line” questions are described: WHY do students need broader, deeper competencies today? WHAT specific competencies are important to empower their success? HOW can students develop these competencies and HOW can we gauge their progress? (October 2017, 3MB)

The MyWays Student Success Series examines this through-line of questions for next generation learning and provides research and practice-based support to help school designers and educators to answer these questions. The series consists of 12 reports organized into three parts, plus a Visual Summary and Introduction and Overview. For more on MyWays, visit myways.nextgenlearning.org
Why Schools Need to Change

Visual Summary of the MyWays Student Success Series

A different kind of Executive Summary. This report uses selected images from the MyWays Student Success Series to share key insights about the major trends and concepts impacting young people today; the broader, deeper competencies they need to succeed; and the learning design and assessment design approaches necessary to develop those competencies. (October 2017, 7.5MB) 

The MyWays Student Success Series examines the through-line of four essential questions for next generation learning and provides research and practice-based support to help school designers and educators to answer these questions. The series consists of 12 reports organized into three parts, plus a Visual Summary and Introduction and Overview. For more on MyWays, visit myways.nextgenlearning.org