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An effort in Oklahoma schools to better connect with families.  They've deployed a smartphone app "The School Connect Application" to share electronic report cards and email notifications with parents.  Not quite at the level of OneVille but a step in that direction

Canada's report card on schools will be handed out to the provinces Monday, revealing growing struggles in science and reading for boys across the country. Once every three years, the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program, or PCAP, measures the reading, math and science proficiency of Grade 8 students in every province and the Yukon.

One example of the perils of standardized testing

In recent years there has been a major push to equip classrooms with technology, including laptops, overhead projectors, interactive white boards and tablets. It has become big business. But there are questions about whether the investment is paying off. This series explores the push to digitize the American classroom and whether the promises are being fulfilled.

This comment from a reader on one of the articles (Inflating the Software Report Card) sums it up rather nicely: "Data-driven, individualized instruction aimed at identifying a student's strengths and weaknesses, is not perfect, nor can it replace great teachers. But it can and does allow gifted students to zoom ahead, average students to keep up, and struggling students to catch up. If we really want math education to become part of the fabric of our kids' lives, not just raising their scores on a standardized test, but helping them become more competent and effective adults, we need to take advantage of all of the technology available".

Speaking of being wary of marketers pitching 'magical digital products'...this study found "no discernible effects" on high school students standardized test scores - of course, we must ask how the effects were measured (what the test actually tests) and measure in what ways software has a meaningful effect on student's learning...

I think Karen Cator makes a good point in the article when she talks about standardized tests being the sole gauge for assessing the effectiveness of the programs. While the programs may be used with the intent to improve test scores, I'd also argue it's important for digital literacy to be valued as a skill in its own right. Thus while test scores may not reflect the sought-after results, other important skills may still have been developed by using the programs.