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"You don't have to reinvent the wheel to bring project-based learning to your school. Educators from Maine have shared details about their administration, school culture, professional development, and curriculum -- materials you may adapt for your class, school, or school district. "

Kevin, you bring up a good point that NCLB has definitely caused us to be more aware of the students who are not achieving and I agree with you. Just as our book "The Art of Possibility" illustrates, there is a positive side to everything. I think you are right about the 100% being a worth while goal. The part that I disagree with is being individually held accountable for that goal when so many other factors such as parents, administration, and score spread critieria embedded in the test themselves, and other factors are working against the success of my students. I would love celebrations and media that honor schools for making high gains, for moving in the right direction, for getting closer to the 100%. I would love to see students honored for making such individual gains as well. Unfortunately I feel that the media message is that which is "failure". Maybe we could colaboratively write some publicity to demonstrate what are schools are doing well.

"America's increasing reliance on standardized testing as a yardstick for educational success is a flawed policy that threatens to undermine the nation's strengths of creativity and innovation, according to a provocative new book from a Michigan State University scholar."

"I've been working with several teachers over the years in our district on the using project based learning. We're by no means experts but are doing some nice work. These three high school teachers have taken the bull by the horns and restructured the school day to provide some learning not easily done in our traditional 40-75 minute classes. This 5 minute video tells part of their story."

The Mobile Learning Institute's film series "A 21st Century Education" profiles individuals who embrace and defend fresh approaches to learning and who confront the urgent social challenges that are part of a 21st century experience. "A 21st Century Education" compiles, in short film format, the best ideas around school reform. The series is meant to start, extend, or nudge the conversation about how to make change in education happen. In this film, architect Randall Fielding demonstrates the connection between where and how students learn in the 21st century.

"A novel public school in New York City has taken the video game as its model for how to teach. Students use video games and design them as part of their classes. As Quest to Learn is wrapping up its first year, those behind the program say game-based learning is integral to 21st century literacy. "

This site breaks down the world of standardized assessments into easily understandable chunks. Designed for parents, the site offers a particularly useful chart presenting testing issues and what supporters and critics say about each.

"Schools and universities can set up free Google Apps accounts with their own domain name, where they can give all student and faculty acces to a variety of tools, including a GMail account, iGoogle portal, Google Groups for collaboration, and Pages, for creating websites. Each user can also use their GMail account to activate other Google services, such as GoogleDocs."

"If you've been following public discourse in education over the last couple of years, you have likely witnessed the emergence of a new, ubiquitous catch phrase: "21st century skills." After some time and considerable debate within and among organizations like ISTE/NETS, enGauge, and The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a general consensus has emerged on definitions of the term. Many for-profit and not-for-profit organizations advertise their curricula to potential school and district clients, touting the alignment with 21st century skills with whatever they are pitching. The vast majority of these, from the traditional "drill and kill" to the more reformed, constructivist and project-based approaches, have adopted the rhetoric (if not the practice) of the new millennium. What is still lacking in the landscape of 21st century education, however, are examples of 21st century student work. While there is no shortage of discourse around the term or end to the lists qualifying the kind of work that students need to be engaged in as part of their 21st century education, there are precious few examples of actual 21st century work."

Why new schools are choosing an old model to bring students into the 21st century.

Welcome to PBL-Online, a one stop solution for Project Based Learning! You'll find all the resources you need to design and manage high quality projects for middle and high school students.

"Testing represents a commitment to high academic standards and school accountability. When the financial and emotional stakes associated with standardized tests are disproportionately high, this laudable goal becomes distorted."

"If enough educators -- and noneducators -- realize there are serious flaws in how we evaluate our schools, maybe we can stop this absurdity."

"Dan Meyer teaches high school math outside of Santa Cruz, CA, and explores the intersection of math instruction, multimedia, and inquiry-based learning. He received his Masters of Arts from the University of California at Davis in 2005 and Cable in the Classroom's Leader in Learning award in 2008. He currently works for Google as a curriculum fellow and lives with his wife in Santa Cruz, CA."

"This set of web pages will describe and discuss the use of technology to support alternative assessment from a number of perspectives. Originally developed and maintained by Dr. Helen Barrett, School of Education, University of Alaska Anchorage (retired). "

"A professor of design and technology at Parsons The New School for Design talks about the value of games and the empowerment of play."

"Gaming remains new territory for most schools. As the following examples show, educators on the frontiers are eager to share what they're learning. Here are just a few examples."