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Vol.14, No. 30

WORLD SCHOOL. Avenues: The World School, is opening its doors this fall in New York City, the flagship in a planned global network of schools with a unique mission to promote and nurture global preparedness. Pledging to “set an example as an effective, diverse, and accountable school,” Avenues’ rigorous curriculum and forward thinking operational philosophy is designed to prepare kids to be successful, responsible, well rounded, and ethical citizens of the global community, who will have access to any international campus in the Avenues family. The faculty and administrative leaders are virtually a who’s who in rigorous education programs – including founder and entrepreneur Chris Whittle. Avenues shows what big thinking, entrepreneurship and hard work can accomplish.

EMPOWERED ONLINE. Speaking of entrepreneurship and forward thinking philosophies…Silicon Valley technology guru Steve Poizner has partnered with UCLA Extension to create Empowered Careers– an online continuing education certificate program taken entirely via a groundbreaking iPad app. Adult learners can take professional development courses from the comfort and convenience of their iPad, completing a certificate program to enhance or redirect their careers. The College Admissions Counseling course, for instance, might help a teacher who wants to transition from the classroom to the counselor’s office in order to focus on helping students make the jump from high school to college. To see some of the program’s high profile cheerleaders including Pierce Bronsan, James Franco, Sally Field and more, check out the video on their homepage. Looks like online learning is not only good for the gander (K-12 kids), but the goose (adult learners), too.

VIRTUAL VILLAGES…New Jersey just gave the thumbs up to two blended learning charter schools, set to open their doors in Newark, while closing the door to others. The Merit Preparatory Charter School and the

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Digital Learning Now!, a national campaign to encourage the creation of high quality online learning programs, releases Roadmap for Reform, a report aiming to guide Governors, state leaders, school officials, and lawmakers as they adopt policies to transform education for the digital age. The document defines 72 explicit measures within the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning framework that, when taken all together, will revolutionize education throughout the United States.

The 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning are organized around three general areas: customization and success for all students, a robust offering of
high quality options and infrastructure.

The ten elements are:
1. Student Access
2. No Barriers To Access
3. Personalized Learning
4. Advancement (According to progress achieved)
5. Quality Content
6. Quality Instruction
7. Quality Choices (access to multiple digital learning providers)
8. Assessment and Accountability
9. Funding
10. Infrastructure

These “10 Elements” were unveiled in 2010 at a National Summit on Education Reform, and were fashioned by the Digital Learning Council, which convened the same year. Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, and Bob Wise, former governor of West Virginia, are co-chairs on this council that brought together over 100 leaders from education, government, philanthropy, business, technology, and think tanks.

To help states get started on reform, the Digital Learning Now! initiative created a state report card based on the “10 Elements” framework. Check out what an ideal state’s digital report card looks like, and compare how your state stacks up.

In the coming weeks you’ll also be able to go to the Center for Education Reform’s State Map to see how digital learning factors into the overall rating and general education weather forecast for your state.