And now today it’s the first-ever Digital Learning Day, centered at a site where you can participate in a live chat and watch a series of webcasts, including an online national townhall meeting at 1 PM Eastern (11 AM Mountain). Colorado is well represented, as the townhall features National Online Teacher of the Year Kristen Kipp from Jeffco Virtual Academy. Also, at 1:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM MT, our local Englewood High School will be one of numerous school sites around the country interacting online via Skype.

I tell you what. There is so much more going on in the digital learning arena here in Colorado, and my Education Policy Center friends are right in the middle of it. If you haven’t seen their helpful guide for parents that came out within the past couple months, you really need to check out Choosing a Colorado Online School for Your Child.

What’s more, last week they also co-sponsored an event with the Donnell-Kay Foundation that brought together nearly 50 of the state’s online education leaders to help craft a digital learning policy roadmap! The keynote speaker and facilitator for that event, Susan Patrick from iNACOL, also is speaking out on this important day:

“By embracing the transformative power and promise of online learning, kids everywhere can have access to the best teachers, engaging content and mastery-based learning opportunities. With new learning models, we can overcome achievement gaps, level the playing field and ensure America’s kids rise to meet the demands of a world that is increasingly globally-competitive,” said Susan Patrick, president and CEO of iNACOL.

Her group highlights four key areas of need policy change to expand effective digital learning opportunities not only in Colorado but also throughout the nation:

• Break down barriers of student access
• Move away from seat time to “competency-based” learning
• Provide equitable, student-centered funding
• Embrace new models of accountability and assessment

Hear, hear, time for Colorado to step up! You’ll be seeing more from me on this front in the near future. In the meantime, Happy Digital Learning Day!!

The Innosight Institute’s Michael Horn lays out the question of how to get from the national group Digital Learning Now!’s reform roadmap to a well-tailored solution in a given state, in this brand-new Education Next article:

With the road map in place, one might assume that moving into the future will be a straightforward exercise: the pieces are all there and model legislation is forthcoming, so state policymakers just have to enact the 10 Elements.

Of course, things are never so simple, and many questions remain.

Some questions reflect legitimate disagreement over Digital Learning Now!’s recommendations, even among those who agree with its broad vision….

The devil indeed is in the details. But it’s just that sort of reality that keeps my Education Policy Center friends busy working hard… or so they say. Maybe they just keep busy to stay out of trouble. Because, after all, the idle brain is the devil’s playground. Sorry, all this talk of the devil is creeping me out — almost as much as talking about the bogeyman or Congress seriously considering the SOPA / PIPA bills (not sopapillas!).

Anyway, speaking of details, you can get some more insight into Michael Horn’s thinking on the need to make significant policy changes by listening to one of our iVoices podcasts we recorded with him a few months ago. Arm yourselves with knowledge as you support the good cause of parental choice and educational excellence through digital learning in Colorado!

Ed News Colorado’s Todd Engdahl as usual does a great job previewing the session and legislative initiatives likely to emerge. If you want the in-depth take, you simply have to go check out the story. According to the story, action is likely to be seen on the following fronts, among others:

• School finance reform
• Standardized testing implementation
• Charter authorizing standards
• Educator effectiveness rules ratification
• Online education oversight and regulation
• School construction funding
• School discipline policies
• A new version of the “parent trigger”
• “Restrictions on automatic salary increases for teachers who earn master’s degrees” (yee haw!)
• Private tuition tax credits

Many, not all, of these present some welcome changes. And of course, the devil remains in the details. In the meantime, word on the street is that another bill is coming to require school district-union bargaining transparency.

It looks like 2012 could bring some more Colorado legislative activity on K-12 education than a slow 2011 did. How much legislation passes, not to mention how much will be worth passing, remains to be seen. But now that my Education Policy Center friends are so much closer to the State Capitol, you can bet that little Eddie will have more of a front seat to observe what’s going on….

Along with our fantastic School Choice for Kids website, this is definitely something you’ll want to know about for 2012, if you are at all interested in looking for a new public school for your child here in the great Centennial State. Many school district open enrollment periods really get rolling in January. This kind of guide can be very valuable if you think the cyberschool option might be right for your family.

Shortly thereafter comes the first-ever national Digital Learning Day on February 1. Colorado is one of at least 27 states to have signed on as a partner to this effort. Participating in Digital Learning Day is something I definitely look forward to!

Meanwhile, as we here in Colorado are fighting back against the overwrought attacks on full-time online schools, yesterday comes this excellent commentary in the Detroit News by Ingrid Jacques:

…Eleven years ago, Michigan became one of the first states to open a statewide virtual school. This year, the Michigan Virtual School facilitated around 18,000 course enrollments to middle and high school students, giving more children access to advanced and specialized courses.

The state additionally offers several multidistrict and numerous single-district virtual programs, according to a report on virtual learning by Michael Van Beek, education policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

And starting in 2010, Michigan opened two full-time virtual charter schools — a result of legislation passed in late 2009 to bolster the state’s chances of winning money from the federal Education Department’s Race to the Top program. [emphasis added]

Yes, this is the same Michael Van Beek who I have cited in writing about transparent union negotiations, taxpayer-funded union release time (where have we heard about that recently?), public school open enrollment and teacher performance pay. Sounds like he covers a lot of the same ground as my Education Policy Center friends, huh?

Speaking of which (in addition to the new publication and the February 1 celebration) 2012 also will kick off with my friends pushing forward in the fight to break down Colorado policy barriers that limit effective online and blended learning opportunities. One key example that Van Beek mentions in the same column for Michigan would also apply to our state — namely, that “the Legislature remove seat-time requirements and instead reward schools based on student mastery of a subject.”

Sure, maybe we can take a break now so we can unwrap the presents from Santa and spend a little extra time playing in the snow. But we need to be prepared to come back next year to take part in this important work!

Parents, teachers and other concerned citizens out there who want to learn more about blended learning but may not have the time to invest in thumbing through a report now have a simpler way to see and think about the subject. A service provider by the name of Education Elements helps to show how the various combinations of online-assisted learning and traditional classroom instruction can better engage students and help teachers focus on the important things they do well.

Check out this 5-minute video Education Elements created: “Blended Learning Explained.” Now after watching that, you may or may not want to go back and read that thick Innosight Institute report to find out more, but at least you flipped on that internal light bulb first. You did get what blended learning is, right?

As more and more Colorado schools and districts look to implement blended learning, here’s hoping they can do it right. But at the same time, let’s remember that student-centered education will in some cases mean a student has the opportunity to customize their learning from more than one school or service providers.

And it’s time for our state’s funding and accountability policies to begin catching up to this 21st century reality. As more boundaries break down, hurrah for the growth of effective blended learning opportunities!

Am I surprised? No. Let me repeat what I’ve said many times: Full-time online education is by no means the best option for all students, or even most students. But it works very well for many families who have chosen the learning option. Which some might have a hard time understanding if you believe the straw man presented by an opponent in the Post story:

“Kindergarten kids learning in front of a monitor — that’s just wrong,” said Maryelen Calderwood, an elected school committee member in Greenfield, Mass., who unsuccessfully tried to stop K12 from contracting with her community to create New England’s first virtual public school last year. “It’s absolutely astounding how people can accept this so easily.”

Well, if the idea people carry around in their head is of a 5-year-old sitting in front of a computer screen all day, then it would be astounding for people to be so accepting of online education. But simply put, that’s a caricature. For a better picture of what an online student’s day looks like, listen to this 10-minute iVoices podcast interview with three students from the Colorado Virtual Academy. While some lessons (though less for younger students) as well as the assessments and teacher interactions are on the computer, cyberschool also includes real textbooks, science kits, art supplies, and even field trips!

I’m not sure if the person quoted in this story really believes in the caricature or not. The way her quote is worded makes it oh so unclear. She could read later on in the Post story and also get a good idea. But I’m guessing she might disapprove of a 5-year-old blogging. (Note: I don’t spend anywhere near the whole day in front of the computer, though sometimes that’s the case for some of my Education Policy Center friends.)

Instead of rushing to implement harsh responses rooted in oversimplified misunderstandings of what online education is and is not, let’s look at making smart policy changes that bring education into the 21st century. There needs to be room for families to choose a quality full-time online option, as well as room for students to blend their education with customized online course opportunities.

Some knotty (not naughty) questions remain as the innovative online sector experiences some growing pains, but some really have gone overboard in seeking to use blunt instruments to bash virtual learning opportunities — or at least their straw-woven facsimiles. While I may be perpetually young, I wasn’t born yesterday.

Pretty much nobody is in school today, as we all gear up for the big turkey feast tomorrow. As my parents constantly remind me, the fourth Thursday in November is about more than food and football. Yes, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. While I could gratefully mention the standard fare — family, friends (like those big people in the Education Policy Center), freedom, our big screen TV, and my growing (ahem!) Legos collection — more fitting for the blog are seven things to be thankful for in Colorado K-12 education:

1. While nobody asked Colorado teacher union members before taking political contributions from their paychecks, at least they can ask for the money back by December 15;
2. While the state senate president hasn’t given up his attacks on the online education option for parents, at least his attempt to push a selective audit was defeated;
3. While a number of pro-reform school board candidates lost and many inside the “education bubble” were distraught at the crushing defeat of the Prop 103 tax hike, at least the opportunity for truly creative innovation lies ahead with a number of new pro-reform board members ready to step up;
4. While a Denver judge went out of his way to shut down the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program, at least the rays of hope for a successful appeal on behalf of students and parents are growing brighter;
5. While a lot of hard work remains to be done, at least the State Board of Education has continued to push for a top-notch educator evaluation system through the rule-making process;
6. While the open enrollment process is less than perfect and opportunities could be expanded, at least Colorado still has one of the strongest laws and Denver Public Schools is making it easier for parents to exercise their options; and
7. While we still have a long way to go in ensuring the best in public school financial transparency, at least some more districts and other K-12 agencies are making progress to comply with the 2010 law.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I will be back on Monday, with my turkey sandwich and leftovers.

But we just can’t flip a digital learning switch, and solve all the ills of public education. One of the biggest obstacles to the important transformation is a dusty old system of school finance that delivers money to district administrative offices and allots it to schools through staffing formulas. Dr. Paul Hill, in his thoughtful new Fordham Institute issue brief titled School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era, notes:

This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to move money from concrete facilities, established programs, and entrenched staff roles to new uses like equipment, software, and remote instructional staff. Yet to encourage development and improvement of technology-based methods, we must find ways for public dollars to do just that—and to follow kids to online providers chosen by their parents, teachers, or themselves.

Will “disruptive innovation” overtake the existing K-12 education system, or will Colorado lawmakers make some serious changes to how it is funded first? As my Education Policy Center friends contemplate how to craft a school finance system for digital learning and the 21st century, they and others couldn’t find a better resource than Dr. Hill’s new piece.

Some of the brightest national lights on the topic are favorably impressed. Education Sector’s Bill Tucker agrees that something like “weighted student funding” is necessary, but not sufficient, to effect the needed change:

…a new system needs to go beyond “whole school” models. In other words, if digital learning “unbundles” school so that students can choose courses and learning experiences from multiple places, as in Florida and other states, then funding needs to be just as nimble.

Customize schooling… where have I heard that before? Meanwhile, widely-respected digital learning entrepreneur Tom Vander Ark has a lot of valuable insights to share about Hill’s paper, including something he and I definitely concur was an important point:

The second breakthrough proposal in this paper suggests scraping the complicated system of local levies and partial state matches for school construction. Instead, “Funds previously earmarked for facilities and maintenance could be included in the backpack.” I’d love to see school districts get out of the real estate development business. If a little tech and facilities funding showed up with enrollment revenue for courses, providers could lease appropriate facilities. This would lead to more school options, more facilities flexibility, and far more productive use of public space. This transition could be accompanied by the sale and lease of many school facilities that could raise billions in funding for operations and program development.

Who out there is willing to join us in questioning such major assumptions embedded in the system? We’re talking about the future here, and the future belongs to kids like me. I understand there are challenges to overhauling an education funding system to help it focus more productively on serving individual students’ needs, and that not everyone will come out a winner. But just using “that’s the way it’s always been” as the reason to resist change isn’t going to hold water, and in a sense is avoiding the inevitable.

Anyway, I’ve only scratched the surface, but trust me: My Education Policy Center friends are paying attention, and taking good notes. Helping Colorado become a leader in this area is an important focus. To make sure K-12 education is primarily about serving students’ needs, we need to do everything we can to make sure that money follows the student to their chosen learning opportunities. It’s working out all the other details that takes time.

In a radical rethinking of what it means to go to school, states and districts nationwide are launching online public schools that let students from kindergarten to 12th grade take some—or all—of their classes from their bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Other states and districts are bringing students into brick-and-mortar schools for instruction that is largely computer-based and self-directed.

The first sentence talks about full-time online education, something that Colorado has had going for more than a decade. (You didn’t hear it from me, but a helpful new report on this topic from my Education Policy Center friends may be coming soon.) About 2 percent of our state’s K-12 public school students are enrolled in a full-time online program, and the number has been rising significantly in recent years.

Recently, there has been some negative news about online schools that should generate some concern — concern about outdated policies that are stifling effective innovation in the digital realm, as well as concern that certain politicians will overreact and attack the online education option that works for many families. The case has been made eloquently in Pam Benigno’s Denver Post op-ed and in an informative podcast with the Innosight Institute’s Michael Horn.

The second part of the paragraph I cited concerns what is commonly known as “blended learning” — which you can read about (again) from the Innosight Institute, or watch a feature about one of its most stellar examples: Arizona’s Carpe Diem charter school. There is significant potential for growth in this area in Colorado, provided the policies are in place and innovative entrepreneurship is given room to serve students.

Elsewhere, the Journal article mentions the high-performing hybrid model of Rocketship Education, which I first told you about more than a year and a half ago. Talk about a little edublogger ahead of his time! Speaking of which, Larry Sand also brings up Rocketship in his new City Journal column on “Disrupting Class.”

Sand writes about how online and blended learning, which continue to grow quickly, have tremendous potential to dramatically change the education system as we know it. The Journal article quotes the president of the National Education Association as saying “his organization opposes full-time online schools but supports integrating virtual lessons into classrooms.” Sand dissects the opposition in his piece, noting it’s not just the full-time variety of cyberschooling that has unions :

The blended-learning approach has attracted a great deal of interest from foundations and think tanks. Its appeal is obvious: students would potentially achieve more with the help of technology and fewer classroom teachers. No wonder the unions are terrified.

Union leaders use scary rhetoric, saying digital learning replaces teachers with technology to make parents think that any program outside their sphere of control will just be a computer babysitting kids. What we’re really talking about, though, is the power of technology to expand the reach of an effective teacher, to make for more productive uses of time and resources. That very well could mean fewer instructors on the big scale. But we have to remember: education is first and foremost about ensuring students learn and grow, not about maintaining and protecting jobs.

a year-long campaign to celebrate bold, creative innovative teachers in classrooms across this nation. These front-line innovators are already embedding digital learning into new instructional practices to ensure that every student leaves the classroom ready for college, career and life success. We ask you to join with us, as with them, as we launch an unprecedented, collaborative effort to expand innovation into every city, town, school and classroom in America!

Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise explains a little bit more in this 3-plus minute video:

Digital learning has real power to help transform our state’s and nation’s education system into a more nimble, productive, effective, and student-centered enterprise. But it’s far from just a matter of importing iPads into the classroom. The market for computerized and web-based technology to enhance learning is booming, but progress is hindered by policies designed for the 20th century factory age.

If you want a clear and sobering big-picture assessment of where our education system is today, and why it needs to change dramatically, check out former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s CNN interview with Piers Morgan.

Last month’s release of the Nation’s Digital Learning Report Card provided a road map. Most of its proposals that Colorado hasn’t already adopted can help fulfill the promise of online and blended learning strategies for students and for our state. But remember: as my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno and the nationally-renowned Michael Horn both have said, more regulation is exactly the opposite of what we need.

In fact, an effective array of digital learning options can best be created by quite the opposite approach. Via American Thinker’s Gary Jason:

…the unionized teachers and administrators may use web-based instruction to co-opt school choice….

Keep pushing vouchers. Within a voucher system, one can easily allow cyber-schooling for those who want it.

Exactly. The two reform ideas are complementary, not contradictory. In the meantime, my Education Policy Center friends will continue helping to arm students and parents with information about their education options — including full-time online and blended learning — as policy makers hopefully see the need to overhaul policies that are choking effective innovations like digital learning. So get yourself ready for February 1, sign up today (it’s not too early), and help spread the word!