Defining Impact in Education Technology
“I have trouble understanding double, triple bottom line funds – there can only be one bottom line for impact funds. That’s why they call it the bottom.” – a paraphrase of Kevin Starr I am thrilled by the attention the education market has been getting lately, from double bottom line, impact, and profit-maximizing funds alike. What “success” looks […]
Technology and Student Engagement
In the age of mobile computing, attention and engagement have become commodities. Advertisers are willing to spend millions for mere seconds of vie
Live from Summit 2014: CCSS and Designing Digital Learning
In a series of discussions moderated by Betsy Corcoran of Edsurge, entrepreneurs and other education stakeholders tackled both the problems and opp
Live From Summit 2014: Reading Reconsidered
When it comes to teaching literacy, content and skills (like decoding specific words and citing their definitions) are inseparable. In a live session at NewSchools Summit, Doug Lemov (Uncommon Schools), Kyla Johnson Trammell (Oakland Unified School District), and Roberto Pondiscio (Democracy Prep) surfaced the above example and discussed the key approaches to elevating the rigor of reading instruction.
The Future of Standardized Testing
The College Board recently announced it is changing the SAT to better align with schoolwork. While I applaud their initiative to make the test relevant to what students are actually learning, emerging efforts in learning analytics and data backpacks will cause a shift in the underlying model of standardized tests.
Socrates Meets Edtech: 51 Questions that Teach
Earlier this week, NewSchools and Silicon Valley Education Foundation collaborated on launching a new learning innovation zone. Ten companies competed for the chance to run pilots throughout Silicon Valley school districts. They were drilled with dozens of questions from a panel of both educational leaders and business leaders.
ReimaginED: The Future of K12 Education
(link) From TED talk playlists to government speeches, everyone agrees: education is changing. Exactly how, why, or what it all means is still up for debate. Are the low United States PISA scores a sign of stagnation or creativity? Does technology replace or enhance face to face interaction? Are we trying to teach skills, concepts, or learning mindsets? At NewSchools Venture Fund, we’d like to set the stage […]
The NewSchools Notebook: tech, teaching, and inspiration
At NewSchools, we are constantly being exposed to new ideas in education from a variety of sources. Given that we invest in technologies that sprea
“Read, Write, Code” say CodeHS founders and winners of NBC Innovation challenge
In my last year at Stanford I took a class that made me wish I could start all over called
Some innovations just don’t make sense until you actually get your hands on them: Fun dip. Silly putty. Education technology. For this reason, SummPlease Touch the Technology