Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

National Study Shows Online Literacy Engagement Minimizes COVID Slide

A real-time national education study of more than one million students by two leading not-for-profit education groups has found that continued engagement with technology-enabled instruction during COVID-19 school closures has significantly reduced students’ loss of potential reading growth. The Successful Practices Network (SPN) and the Center for College and Career Readiness (CCCR) released these findings today, which are some of the very first published results using current data of students’ learning from Fall 2020. Recommendations to help educators accelerate learning are also included in the new study.

This unique analysis draws its finding from actual usage and performance data for students using Achieve3000 Literacy™ before and after schools closed on March 11 through September 30, 2020. Data for more than 1 million students using Achieve3000 Literacy, an online solution for differentiated and personalized literacy instruction in Grades 2-12, during the 2019 and 2020 school years, demonstrates:

Students Lost Only 12% of Potential Learning Gains…Read More

Can you be for-profit and for K-12 students?

How do for-profits factor into K-12 education?

for-profit-educationAcross industries such as health care, clean energy and even space exploration, private enterprise plays an accepted and critical role. Yet when it comes to education, many view for-profit providers with distrust. Although there is no shortage of negative opinions on for-profit education providers, there has been a lack of real conversation about the complex and complicated role they do, can and should play in improving American education.

These factors formed the impetus behind Private Enterprise and Public Education (Teachers College Press, Aug. 2013). Surveying the good and the bad of for-profits at all levels of education, including K-12, this book facilitates a thoughtful conversation around for-profits to bring balance to the discussions around their role in education. Ultimately it concludes that, given sensible policies and quality control mechanisms, policymakers can and should leverage the power of for-profit innovation and investment to better serve more students.

At a time when the educational status quo is defined by tight budgets, disappointing outcomes, high remediation rates and rising expectations, it would serve the American education system well to relax the reflexive criticism of for-profits and instead ask whether, when, and how for-profit providers can promote quality and cost-effectiveness to create a student-centered learning environment for children. The book excerpt below highlights three key conclusions drawn by comparing the corporate structures of nonprofits versus for-profits.…Read More