Florida: The Seminole County School District, one of the state's biggest, offers more online classes and other educational options to compete with private and charter schools and home schooling (Orlando Sentinel). Meanwhile, another large district receives 36 applications for new charter schools (Palm Beach Post).

Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslam says questions remain on a voucher proposal that's expected to get legislative attention next year (Nashville Public Radio). State education officials and the Nashville school board are in a standoff over a proposed charter school that wants to open in an affluent part of the city (Education Week).

Louisiana: In the wake of the new voucher program, state education officials will consider tightening rules for the establishment of new private schools. (New Orleans Times Picayune) Expanded online learning options give Louisiana students a chance to graduate early or catch up on credits. (The Advocate)

Washington: The state PTA opposes the charter school initiative on the November ballot. (The News Tribune)

Texas: Some charter school supporters oppose a state education funding lawsuit that suggests state resources are inadequate. (Austin American Statesman)

Indiana: Between vouchers and charter schools, northwest Indiana parents have more school choices than ever before. (Post Tribune) (more…)

With the creation of The Jetsons in the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera projected what 100 years into the future could look like. Set in 2062, The Jetsons lived in an automated, push-button world. Long distance conversations took place face to face through a television screen, groceries were ordered on-line and delivered to your doorstep, and household chores are performed with the click of a button. What Hanna-Barbera missed was the time horizon. It wouldn’t take 100 years for these changes to occur, it would happen in half of that time.

Little did they know, at the beginning of the 21st century soldiers across the ocean would be able to read their kids a bedtime story via Skype or Facetime. Questions would be answered with a simple Google search. Music would be downloaded straight to your phone with the click of a button. And kids in rural Nebraska would learn physics from engineers in Japan without leaving their 11th grade classroom.

Most schools around the nation operate the same way today as they did a century ago. They have the same schedule, the same classrooms, the same grade levels, the same teachers, and the same courses. With the ring of a bell, students move to the next subject, and the cycle starts all over again.

What if we were to channel our inner Hanna-Barbera, and visualize what public education should look like in the digital age?

I submit we would have an education system focused on student learning. No arbitrary schedules or seat-time requirements. Just learning.  Each student at his or her own pace, according to their learning style.

Interactive and adaptive learning technologies can allow students to learn in their own style and at their own pace. This means no student gets bored and no student gets left behind. Teachers are no longer forced to use textbooks that become outdated the moment they leave the printer.

Digital learning can provide real-time data so teachers can differentiate instruction with laser-like precision. Data brings a level of efficiency to both teaching and learning that will improve both the experience of education as well as the outcome.

Imagine with me an education system where a student’s homework is listening to their teacher’s lecture, and class time is spent working through the military genius of Napoleon by using the latest GPS mapping software.

Or it might be a 10th-grader in his backyard, at the picnic table, diving into his chemistry lesson via his mobile tablet. He gets so caught up in what he is learning that two hours go by before he even looks up.

It could be a fifth-grader whose classroom consists of students from several grade levels engaging in an interactive learning environment where grammar skills and concepts are practiced through gaming.  After providing an overview lesson on sentence structure and basic concepts, her teacher works with each student individually, based on their specific needs.

This modernized education system cares less about HOW she learns sentence structure as long as she learns it. (more…)

Florida expanded its virtual learning horizon today, even as it once again reminded us that age-old education boundaries won’t easily cede to global technology.

The bill that senators sent to Gov. Rick Scott, HB 7197, was a clear victory for online education, adding more public and private options. School districts will be required to give students access to at least three different providers for part-time and fulltime virtual programs. Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest and most successful public virtual school, will be allowed to provide fulltime programs for all grade levels and part-time not only for high and middle school students but also for accelerated fourth- and fifth-graders. High school students will be required to take an online course for graduation. All providers will be held to similar academic accountability standards and will receive similar reimbursement.

Patricia Levesque, executive director of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s foundation and digital learning initiative, helped push the effort. “A decade ago, the idea of providing every student in Florida with a customized education was just a dream,” she said after the Senate vote. “But that dream can become reality through today’s technology. Increasing access to quality digital learning in our schools will bring Florida’s classrooms into the 21st century and prepare our students for success in today’s global market.”

The bill did contain reminders of the obstacles that remain. Legislative staff attorneys and education analysts refused to accept a broader strategy offered jointly by Florida Virtual and its private competitors that would have allowed both to operate statewide, giving simpler options to all students. They deemed, with some justification, that such an approach would be challenged and found unconstitutional. That’s because Florida’s constitution, like that of many states, apportions oversight of education based on the physical location of students and schools. That means school boards are in charge, even when they need not be. (more…)

A bill that would turn Florida’s virtual education landscape into a public-private potpourri of learning options passed a Senate committee this afternoon without a peep of dissent.

In fact, among the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee members who voted in support was a newly elected Democrat, Bill Montford, who is also the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. Among those who testified in favor of the bill, SB 1620, was an elected School Board member from a small northeast Florida county, Jim Adams, who said it would be an educational boon to students in rural areas and those in foster care. Most strikingly, among the organizations that signed up to voice support was the Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest and most successful public virtual school.

The bill is sponsored by Miami Sen. Anitere Flores, who said the goal is to provide as many quality online education options as possible for all Florida students. She told the committee the bill is the work product of many groups that came together to endorse a plan that provides fulltime and part-time virtual options, creates multiple statewide virtual providers that would be approved by the Department of Education, expands Florida Virtual School to serve K-5 students, and creates virtual charter schools and blended-learning charter schools.

The bill is similar to a report issued by a choice working group called the Florida Alliance for Choices in Education, a group that included both private providers and Florida Virtual School representatives. Though it is getting a late start in the 2011 session, the bill looks likely to pick up momentum. The outgoing and respected education commissioner, Eric Smith, issued a statement in support: “Florida is a national leader when it comes to the use of virtual instruction in public education, showcasing programs and entire schools that are using technology to fulfill the academic dreams of students. Should this bill become law, it will mean the dawn of a new era of education innovation in our state, resulting in countless new learning opportunities for every student.” Additionally, a press conference is scheduled for Thursday to showcase the broad-based and bipartisan support.

A House bill introduced last week, HB 7197, is not nearly so ambitious, and the push is to conform the House approach with that of Sen. Flores.