Districts Are Turning Increasing to Cloud-Based Services for Academic and Instructional Needs
Districts have shown a growing appetite for using software-as-a-service models to meet their instructional and academic needs, but they need support and training to make it happen.
Strong Demand Exists for New Science Materials Even in States That Haven't Adopted the Standards
The Next Generation Science Standards are placing new demands on content producers to recast their classroom resources, and rethink the PD they offer.
The U.S. Department of Education Is Leading the Arcane But Potentially Important Process for Clarifying Parts of the Every Student Succeeds Act
Ongoing hearings, part of the “negotiated rulemaking” process for the federal Every Student Succeeds Acts, are touching on computer-adaptive and English-language testing. Stay tuned for more updates on this process in the months ahead.
But Emerging Efforts to Build a Procurement Hub and Speed Up Evaluations Could Help
A growing number of commercial and nonprofit efforts are slowly emerging to create a shared set of expectations for vendors and school officials for judging the quality of products.
Educators Want Fewer and Shorter Tests That Generate More Useful K-12 Data
States and districts are under mounting pressure from parents and policymakers to cut the number of tests students take, but also to make assessments more meaningful.
Facebook CEO's Interests Include Customized Learning Paths, Competency-Based Progressions
The Facebook CEO’s $45 billion philanthropic and investment effort has already included significant backing of for-profit companies such as AltSchool, Ellevation, MasteryConnect, and Newsela.
Companies can take simple, low-cost steps to assess academic impact and engagement
Ed-tech companies conducting research often miss critical steps in gathering information about their products’ effectiveness, and the experiences of teachers and students using them.
Just 5 percent of education products reviewed on the site earn the top score
For companies submitting products for reviews, the gold standard is to get two rankings of five stars—one from Graphite’s staff of internal educator/reviewers, and the other from teachers who are using the tools in their classrooms and evaluating them.
District Leaders Report on New Contract Provisions for 2016
District leaders are adding accountability provisions in their contracts with vendors around student data privacy, interoperability, standards alignment, and “up time.”
Breaking down what the new law may mean for providers of ed tech, interventions, and other services
The sweeping new federal education law could have big implications for state and local spending on school interventions, tutoring, classroom technology, academic content, and other priorities.
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