New resource offers 9 student data privacy best practices

Focusing on communication and stakeholder involvement can help data privacy

Technology, family involvement and communication are key to executing school data privacy best practices, according to a new white paper from communication service provider West Corporation.

“School and Student Data Privacy: Nine Considerations for Community Engagement” offers an overview of nine best practices that can help school leaders navigate student data privacy policies and frameworks.

“Data-enabled technology use in schools has increased exponentially over the past decade, helping inform teacher instruction and enterprise decisions and making student privacy and data security more important than ever,” said white paper author Mark Schneiderman, West’s Education group vice president of government affairs and former senior director of education policy at SIIA. “Maintaining student confidentiality requires a comprehensive set of school data policies and practices. It is crucial that everyone in the school community—educators, parents and students—understands the importance of data security and privacy.”…Read More

Four essential priorities for making sense of student data

A new report outlines how careful data use and policies can support elevated teaching and learning

Four data policy priorities can help state policymakers take advantage of data provisions in the Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) in order to move from data compliance to leveraging data to improve student learning, according to a new report from the Data Quality Campaign (DQC).

The report, Time to Act: Making Data Work for Students, says policymakers at every level should follow the four data policy prescriptions in order: measuring what matters, making data use possible, being transparent and earning trust, and guaranteeing access and protecting privacy.

Specifically, the report provides recommendations to help policymakers transform data from a tool for compliance to one that supports continuous improvement and achieves results, including state and district-based examples of how leaders have effectively used education data.…Read More

2 reports help leaders leverage ESSA

School leaders, policymakers can use ESSA to focus on boosting learning, achievement for students

Two new reports offer school leaders research-based evidence to help them leverage the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to improve learning outcomes for students.

The reports, Redesigning School Accountability and Support: Progress in Pioneering States, and Pathways to New Accountability Through the Every Student Succeeds Act offer guidance for schools, districts and states hoping to revamp their support, improvement, opportunity, and accountability. They were published jointly by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE).

“Accountability is not a side issue. In recent years, for good or for ill, it has become the framework shaping how we think about the improvement of schools,” notes LPI President Linda Darling-Hammond. “The challenge before us,” she adds, “is how we can develop more productive approaches to accountability that support student and system learning and continuous improvement.”…Read More

5 principles for rigorous technology evaluation

A new proposal offers a way to determine how effective different education technology tools are for teaching and learning

A new policy proposal notes that while education technology holds great promise to improve K-12 educational outcomes when correctly implemented, methods to rigorously evaluate education technology tools have not kept pace with the tools themselves.

This cycle makes it difficult for educators to find and select the best ed-tech tools, and it creates barriers to instruction, according to “Learning What Works in Educational Technology with a Case Study of EDUSTAR,” a policy proposal from The Hamilton Project that seeks to accelerate understand of what works in educational technology.

The proposal authors, Professors Aaron Chatterji (Duke University, Fuqua School of Business) and Benjamin Jones (Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and Institute for Policy Research), discussed the new proposal at a recent Hamilton Project forum on “Strengthening Student Learning Through Innovation and Flexibility.”…Read More

FCC approves $9 broadband subsidy for low-income households

Expansion of the Lifeline program will affect more than 13 million Americans

A recently-approved expansion of an FCC program will grant millions of low-income households a discount on internet access in an effort to help close what is becoming known as the digital divide — the lack of reliable high-speed internet access for lower income families.

FCC commissioners voted on the proposed expansion 3 to 2 along party lines, as expected. Eligible households (those at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty level) will now be able to apply the $9.25 subsidy to broadband, wireless, or a bundled voice and internet package. Previously, the program, called Lifeline, was only applicable to phone service.

According to the FCC, nearly all households with annual incomes of more than $150,000 currently have high-speed internet; by contrast, nearly half of those with incomes less than $25,000 claim the same.…Read More

ESSA could offer chance to advance personalized learning

KnowledgeWorks releases guide to help states and districts re-imagine teaching and personalized learning under new federal education law

Amid sluggish education outcomes, increasing need for remedial college coursework and a prevalent job skills gap, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) marks an important point in federal education policy.

During 15 years of No Child Left Behind, education advocates became increasingly frustrated with the level of federal prescription over the vision and design of state education systems. Now, under ESSA, states and school districts have more ownership to advance innovative visions for teaching and learning.

To help state education agencies and local districts consider opportunities in the new law, today KnowledgeWorks released “Recommendations for Advancing Personalized Learning Under the Every Student Succeeds Act,” a guide for imagining and implementing a vision of personalized learning that aligns federal, state and local policies.…Read More

States assess their readiness for digital learning

Statewide ed-tech inventories are helping state leaders assess their digital learning needs

When Ray Timothy, executive director of the Utah Education and Telehealth Network, saw the results of a new statewide inventory of technology deployed across all 989 Utah public schools, one figure jumped out at him in particular.

It was the 100-percent response rate from the survey.

“We knew most districts and schools would respond, but a 100-percent response rate shows that technology is a high priority for education leaders throughout the state,” he said.…Read More

5 education issues that should be on the presidential candidates’ radar

Many say the presidential candidates’ debates and discussions lack a focus on education—here are the issues the candidates should research

The presidential campaign and debates among candidates have shed light on the issues most important to the U.S. public—and among those issues is K-12 education, from new laws and policy, equity and broadband internet access, to open educational resources.

College affordability has been a topic of discussion, and some Republican candidates have argued over Common Core State Standards and even flirted with the idea of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. But are the candidates really talking about K-12 education? Many education stakeholders would say no.

Here, we offer a handful of K-12 education issues, along with important developments pertaining to each issue, which should be on the presidential candidates’ radar and present in their debates as November nears.…Read More

Is it time to redesign your curriculum for the 21st century learner?

A new framework advocates for carefully curating what students learn. Is it time to rethink your curriculum?

It’s not a stretch to say that today’s educational paradigm is preoccupied with the “how” of learning. Educators are grappling — either by choice or decree — with how to incorporate digital devices, new learning standards, and more collaboration and critical thinking into the already-packed school day. With so much to do, who has time to take a fine-toothed comb through the curriculum or debate whether students still need to know the date of the Battle of Hastings?

But maybe it’s exactly the right time, according to Charles Fadel, the founder of the Center for Curriculum Redesign and a visiting practitioner at Harvard’s Graduate School for Education. Fadel has previously written about 21st century skills and recently turned his attention to the “what” of learning as co-author of a new book, Four-Dimensional Education,” which is less of a teach this, not that manual and more of a framework for exploring the modern competencies students will need in a world where job titles and career choices are changing faster than schools can keep up. Recently, Fadel spoke with us about his framework, the appeal of inter-disciplinary subjects, and whether it’s time to retire the old Capitals of the World quiz once and for all.

What is a 21st century curriculum? What needs to change?…Read More

Future Ready update adds new resources and PD for leaders

Future Ready overhaul coincides with the new national ed-tech plan

Last Thursday, The United States Department of Education held an event at the White House unveiling the 2016 National Education Technology Plan and celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Future Ready initiative. There, along with several partner groups, they announced several new commitments and initiatives to help schools become more digitally capable.

The main theme of the event was connectivity, but that extends far beyond merely connecting students to technology. Instead, the idea of connectivity envisioned for the future is that technology will serve as a means to connect students to teachers, and allow all students to experience the same access to their interests regardless of demographics.

“There’s an answer for every challenge out there,” said Daryl Adams, Superintendent of the Coachella Valley Unified School District, who attended the event. “United in purpose and mission, we can do anything.”…Read More