A number of considerations are necessary for success with online learning.

Progress monitoring tools and proper training in online teaching are critical factors in supporting and sustaining successful online education programs, according to a survey of school leaders.

The survey, released by K12 Inc. and conducted by MDR’s EdNET Insight, included responses from superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, principals, and special-education directors who are experienced in implementing online education programs. The 220-plus respondents identified and ranked a number of key success factors.

Four factors were ranked by at least 80 percent of respondents as “extremely important” to the success of full-time online education programs, individual online courses, and credit recovery programs.

(Next page: The four factors in particular that contribute to successful online education programs)

New innovations developed by ed-tech company School Improvement Network make it possible to elevate student assessment scores by as much as 20 percent in a single year.

New research helps to unveil the science of the school turnaround, revealing that improving schools dramatically isn’t about working miracles—it’s about having the right tools and the right focus.

Administrators today carry higher expectations on their shoulders than any generation before. With so much at stake, many school leaders question how they can possibly accomplish what’s being asked—to not only raise student achievement, but in some cases to double, triple, or quadruple student success rates.

However, research conducted by Dr. Steven Shaha of the Center for Public Policy and Administration shows that new innovations developed by ed-tech company School Improvement Network make it possible to elevate student assessment scores by as much as 20 percent in a single year. The numbers tell a story of dramatic, lasting improvement in student achievement being made every day, all over the country.

Dr. Shaha’s research is compiled in a study called “Predictors of Success,” where student outcomes in 734 schools in 211 districts across 39 states were analyzed year over year to measure the impact of School Improvement Network’s educator effectiveness system on student learning and educator effectiveness.

The results show that whenever educators used the tools effectively in the educator effectiveness system, student test scores increased many times over, year after year.

(Next page: What the research says)

Here’s a list of the 12 most popular stories we’ve published in the last year.

Recently, we published a special “year in review” digital edition in which we recapped what we thought were the 10 biggest ed-tech stories of 2012, and analyzed what these stories might mean for K-12 education in 2013 and beyond.

(You can access this special digital publication by clicking here.)

Now, we’ve assembled a list of the dozen most popular stories we’ve published in the last year, as measured by the number of page views each received. If you missed any of them before, here’s your chance to read them now, simply by clicking on each headline.

It’s clear from this list that our readers love to learn about new educational apps for iOS and Android devices—and stories about flipped learning were extremely popular this year as well.

What was your favorite eSN story from the past year, or the story you found most valuable? Tell us what you think in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

12. Bill Gates: Why ‘game-based learning’ is the future of education

In Bill Gates’ vision of the classrooms of the future, students are grouped according to skill set. One cluster huddles around a computer terminal, playing an educational game or working on a simulator. Another works with a human teacher getting direct instruction, while another gets a digital lesson delivered from their teacher’s avatar…

11. Seven iPad alternatives for schools

With their interactive touch screens, easy portability, and quick boot-up time, tablets are increasingly becoming schools’ classroom computers of choice. And while many schools have invested in Apple’s revolutionary iPad, which started the whole tablet computing craze, a number of other suitable options have emerged to give school leaders more choices…

10. Free websites help boost student engagement, teacher productivity

Cash-strapped schools can’t stop giving students the resources they need to learn and develop 21st century skills simply because budgets are tight. Luckily, educators can turn to free online resources to help them find and organize lesson plans, give students extra help in various subjects, and more…

9. Five key roles for 21st-century school librarians

Presenters at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities conference described how librarians today must curate, foster citizenship, forge connections—and more…

8. Nine useful lists for educators

As part of Connected Educator Month (CEM), social media-savvy teachers and education professionals are using Twitter, blogs, and publications to get information out as quickly and easily as possible, and are using lists in many ways. Browsing CEM’s Twitter feed, #CE12, we’ve highlighted some of the most popular lists that were tweeted, as well as some lists that might be most helpful to our readers…

7. A first-hand look inside a flipped classroom

There have been many school reform trends over the past few years: student response systems, video games for math, mobile phones for learning—but none have completely transformed the notion of learning like the flipped classroom…

There is no single, national standard for teacher certification, although the federal government does ask states to meet certain criteria to be eligible for federal funding.

School teachers should have to pass a stringent exam—much like the bar exam for lawyers—before being allowed to enter the profession, one of the nation’s largest teachers unions said Dec. 3.

The American Federation of Teachers called for a tough new written test to be complemented by stricter entrance requirements for teacher training programs, such as a minimum grade point average. It also called for a more “systemic approach” to preparing future teachers.

“It’s time to do away with a common rite of passage into the teaching profession, whereby newly minted teachers are tossed the keys to their classrooms, expected to figure things out, and left to see if they and their students sink or swim,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten, calling that system unfair to students and teachers alike.

The proposal, released Dec. 3 as part of a broader report on elevating the teaching profession, calls for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to take the lead in developing a new test. The nonprofit group currently administers the National Board Certification program, an advanced, voluntary teaching credential that goes beyond state standards.

When it comes to digital learning, high-quality programs embrace what the report identifies as the three Ts: teaching, technology, and time.

A new report outlines four critical challenges facing public education and identifies steps that school and district leaders must take in the next two years to ensure that digital learning has a lasting effect on students.

“The Nation’s Schools Are Stepping Up to Higher Standards,” from the Alliance for Excellent Education, notes that the nation’s education system is begging for an overhaul, and the coming years are crucial as policy makers and educators strive to create an education system that addresses student needs and ensures that all students emerge ready to compete on a global level.

“The next two years will see unprecedented developments in K-12 public education as states set fundamentally higher-than-ever standards for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “Technology can play a vital role in supporting teachers and helping public schools and districts meet these challenges, but technology by itself is not the answer; simply slapping a netbook on top of a textbook is not enough. But when districts develop a plan to pair technology with effective teaching and more efficient use of time, technology can accelerate the pace of improvement and boost student outcomes.”

Increasing needs for higher student achievement

Every state requires all students to graduate college- and career-ready, and the nation’s schools must be able to meet this standard. Estimates maintain that just 25 percent of high school students actually meet this requirement. High school graduation rates hover around 72 percent overall, with that rate closer to 50 percent for minority students. Half of all students entering a community college will need remedial courses, and 20 percent will need help when they enter a four-year institution.

Shrinking budgets

Unpredictable funding has left schools, districts, and states scrambling to do more with less. In fact, per-student spending has declined in most states since 2008.

In FY 2011, 18 of 23 states that made midyear budget cuts were forced to cut from K-12 education. In FY 2012, 42 of 50 states dealt with budget shortfalls.

District leaders must think creatively and reallocate existing resources to support teachers. For instance, the report suggests offering online professional development and streamlining expenses to find extra funds.

The future of teaching

Many teachers do not have adequate training and support—both of which are essential in student-centered learning environments. A large number of teachers leave the profession within the first few years owing to a lack of support and mentoring. Half leave in the first five years, and U.S. schools spend more than $2.6 billion each year replacing teachers who have dropped out of the field.

The website provides adult educators with access to resources; on-demand, web-based professional development opportunities, including online courses and targeted face-to-face trainings; and a connected network of practitioners. LINCS also offers specialized tools, including the ability for adult educators across the country to engage in real-time discussions.

The new and improved website offers a collection of high-quality, evidence-based online resources for adult educators and other practitioners within the adult education system. One of the site’s key features is the “LINCS Community,” which includes 16 topic-area groups. These virtual community groups provide an opportunity for those in the field to engage in topic-specific networking and information sharing activities. By engaging in a group, educators are able to share and obtain real-time answers to peer-driven questions based on their collective professional experiences.

“We want adult educators to use LINCS to improve their practice and connect with peers and experts. We believe that a professionalized teaching workforce and high-quality professional development are key to improving program effectiveness and raising student outcomes so that more adults can complete college or training,” said Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education Brenda Dann-Messier.

http://lincs.ed.gov

Teachers and parents said access to broadband has wide implications for student success.

Results from a new poll suggest that parents and teachers support more use of technology to improve students’ education and real-world skills. The poll comes from the Leading Education by Advancing Digital (LEAD) Commission, a non-governmental organization exploring the opportunity to use technology to improve education in the United States.

The survey reflects responses from 812 K-12 public school teachers and 883 parents of K-12 public school children in August 2012. This included an over-sampling of low-income parents.

Both parents and teachers said they believe U.S. public schools have some catching up to do when it comes to technology use. Many believe the nation is behind the curve when it comes to other parts of the economy and other countries.

See also: “New group aims to spur technology’s role in education“

In fact, a majority of both parents and teachers said more investments in technology are worthwhile at the local, state, and federal levels. Sixty-three percent of teachers said that additional investments are “definitely worth it,” and 32 percent said they are “probably worth it.” Similarly, 65 percent of parents said these additional investments are “definitely worth it,” and 26 percent said they are “probably worth it.”

Respondents said technology can be helpful in addressing many education reform goals, including:

• Providing more individualized and flexible learning.
• Offering more hands-on learning opportunities.
• Helping students become more engaged in their own learning.
• Making closer connections between the classroom and the real world.
• Exposing students to experts outside the classroom and different perspectives on issues.

Parents and teachers alike said that broadband technology is important to student learning and achievement, and they acknowledged that students who do not have access to broadband service are at a disadvantage.

Seventy-four percent of teachers and 82 percent of parents said it is very important for schools to make good use of technology. Fifty-four percent of teachers and 64 percent of parents said that technology will be increasingly important in preparing young people for the future.

When compared to other sectors such as business, 74 percent of teachers and 59 percent of parents said they believe that U.S. public education is somewhat behind the curve in the way it uses technology. Twelve percent of teachers and 17 percent of parents said U.S. public schools are far behind the curve, and 26 percent of teachers and 29 percent of parents said that the U.S. is ahead of the curve.

The survey asked teachers and parents if they would support investments in technological devices instead of investments in traditional textbooks if given the choice. Eighty-nine percent of teachers and 76 percent of parents said they would support an investment in an internet-connected device instead of purchasing new science textbooks.

The first Edcamp was organized in Philadelphia in 2010 by a team of like-minded educators who were frustrated by one-size-fits-all professional development experiences.

As educators gear up for a new school year, they’ll be doing some learning of their own in professional development workshops and sessions. Unfortunately, district and school-based professional development is often described as tiresome and irrelevant, but there are alternatives. One of these alternatives that’s quickly catching on is an Edcamp “unconference”—the antidote to mandated professional development.

Edcamps are free, organic, one-day, participant-driven professional development gatherings organized by educators for educators. Typically held on Saturdays in educational facilities, Edcamps have no pre-set presentation schedule, nor any pre-selected presenters. Instead, participants volunteer to facilitate conversations and hands-on activities among peers.

The first Edcamp was organized in Philadelphia in 2010 by a team of like-minded educators who were frustrated by one-size-fits-all, passive-learning professional development experiences. Inspired by Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, the originators felt that their intrinsic motivation for self-directed learning was a more powerful incentive for professional development than district imposed “sit-and-git” training. They first met at another unconference for people in the local technology community, called BarCamp, to share their best practices and brainstorm solutions to common problems in education. It was there that the idea of the first Edcamp was conceived.

The current Edcamp schedule lists 164 events, starting with the original Edcamp Philly in May 2010 and running through February 2013. Some districts, like Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts, have adopted the model for weekly professional development meetings—strictly voluntary, and open to all. While most Edcamps are organized regionally, some target specific audiences, such as superintendents, principals, a specific discipline like art or social studies, or a theme—like Edcamp CommonCore. There are even rumors of an upcoming Edcamp organized and facilitated by students—a vehicle for honest dialog between educators and students, education’s most important stakeholders.

Edcamps generally follow a similar timeline. An event is organized, registration opens (some fill up fast), and an online sharing space (where participants can initiate conversations about topics of interest before the event, post content for sessions during the event, and comment about discussions afterwards) is created. Here is a typical schedule for an Edcamp:

Epic-ed will help guide school leaders through digital transitions.

A new online community that launched Aug. 22 aims to help schools and districts as they move toward digital education and implement corresponding policy changes.

The U.S. Department of Education, the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University, and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) partnered to create the online community of practice.

Epic-ed aims to empower digital transitions at all stages of development, including school leaders who are thinking about moving to ubiquitous computing environments, those who wish to implement ed-tech pilot projects, and those who are ready for full-scale implementation.

“Epic-ed will provide K-12 educators, district leaders, and other community participants with a unique channel to get connected and develop strategies for navigating the digital transition,” said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger. “With increased peer-to-peer interaction and greater connectivity, epic-ed members will have an opportunity to learn from each other, share ideas, and ultimately implement effective plans to help ease the transition and maximize the benefits of technology-enabled learning environments.”

Though one-to-one computing has long been a goal of many districts, ed-tech leaders find they are now faced with a “one-to-many” situation, because many students today own and use more than one wireless mobile device.

“Bring your own device” initiatives—where students use their own devices on a school’s network, and the school often provides a “classroom set” of tools for students who don’t have their own device—also are growing in popularity. These initiatives cut down on tech support and take advantage of the large numbers of students who own high-tech devices and who already are using those devices, such as tablets, laptops, and smart phones, for educational purposes.

Epic-ed will focus on all stakeholders involved in ed-tech programs: school administrators, teachers, chief technology officers, instructional coaches, parents, students, and more.

On the community’s website, users will see a depiction of the digital transition cycle, a framework that epic-ed uses to help stakeholders begin or evaluate their progress toward digital education. That cycle consists of four phases:

More than 600 school districts have iPad programs.

At Georgia College, educational technology could spawn more educational technology.

A group of graduate students at the Milledgeville, Ga.-based campus have used Apple’s iBookstore to publish a video- and image-laden eTextbook filled with information and advice for educators hoping to better incorporate technology in their classroom lessons.

The eBook, “Using Technology in Education,” is a student-created textbook available for the iPad and available for free in the iBookstore, which was introduced in January.

Nine graduate students in Associate Professor Chris Greer’s Advanced Technology for Teachers course researched, filmed, and photographed the text and images used in the ed-tech textbook, covering myriad topics from social media use in education and document cameras to advances in assistive technology and eReaders.

Greer said his class’s eTextbook is a good example of how technology can make education more efficient and affordable without sacrificing quality.

“This movement toward electronic textbooks and tablet computers could revolutionize K-12 and higher education,” he said. “Digital textbooks are inexpensive and can be updated more quickly and easily. Our textbook strives to look at technology and education together.”

Greer said making textbooks available for iPads will have quite an impact in K-12 and higher education as more educators adopt the devices for classroom use. More than 600 school districts have an iPad program, he said.

“It’s a cool, well-designed eBook,” said Greer, associate professor of instructional technology in the John H. Lounsbury College of Education, who added that Apple deemed his students’ work exemplary. “After we submitted it, no revisions were needed. The textbook passed Apple’s screening process, which speaks to the quality of the students’ work.”

Twelve percent of college students who answered a recent survey said they owned an iPad, the Apple product that has launched a tablet computing revolution.