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The BloombergBusiness report about Amplify comes as tablet sales in education are declining in general, as Chromebooks gain sales and popularity in K-12 classrooms. It also comes on the eve of ISTE 2015—the largest gathering of education technology enthusiasts in the U.S. The company spokesman said Amplify will be well-represented at ISTE, although the company did not release advance press coverage about products that will be showcased there.

use and share open educational materials, which are basically defined as free resources created on a license that allows users to share, revise, and repurpose them as they see fit.

That, ultimately, is the challenge: to identify digitally driven, innovative practices that work and scale them up. Schools can look to a growing number of models to meet that challenge, as well as the lessons that can be learned from others' mistakes.

many schools are turning to open educational resources. They're convinced that the free, malleable, and shareable academic content offers advantages that traditional commercial materials cannot match.

administrators and teachers are learning to embrace the eclectic jumble of student-owned devices, in the belief that taking a flexible approach will benefit instruction.

teachers are far more likely to use technology to make their own jobs easier and to supplement traditional instructional strategies than to put students in control of their own learning. Case study after case study describe a common pattern inside schools: A handful of "early adopters" embrace innovative uses of new technology, while their colleagues make incremental or no changes to what they already do.

numerous culprits

Washington-based International Society for Technology in Education

mix of iPads and tablets with detachable keyboards.

HP EliteBook Revolve 810 G3, a laptop-tablet hybrid

Some K-12 systems are moving away from iPads and on to Chromebooks. And many elementary schools use Kindles and tablets made by Samsung and Android rather than Apple iPads.

No time for real dialogue. No time to ask questions

. "Oh we do this already," is a common response to PD. Do they do it...or do they think they do it? The report states that, "non-improvers are almost twice as likely to self-assess their own performance as stronger than their formal ratings."

Reflection is important, but it needs to be done with evidence.

Not that this was necessarily the takeaway from a recent interview that the OECD Education Today blog did with economist Tyler Cowen, but still: 'There are two things people need to learn how to do to be employable at a decent wage: first, learn some skills which complement the computer rather than compete against it. Some of these are technical skills, but a lot of them will be soft skills, like marketing, persuasion, and management that computers won't be able to do any time soon.' Cowen, a professor at George Mason University, in Va., is more focused on higher education than K-12, but the teaching of soft skills has become a big factor in discussions of college and career readiness. As important as soft skills, though, Cowen said, is the ability of people to be able to learn new things, especially without the formal structure of school to support them: 'Twenty to thirty years from now, we'll all be doing different things. So people who are very good at teaching themselves, regardless of what their formal background is, will be the big winners.'

Bethel and Grandview both pursued open resources in large part because they were not satisfied that commercial curricula were closely aligned with the common core.

They called on their teachers, and other content experts, to help them find the open resources that hit the mark.

It's safe to assume many districts switching to open resources will have to devote large amounts of time and money to finding what they need and preparing teachers to use new materials, Mr. Bliss said. Yet that work brings rewards, he argued. In going through that process, teachers get "some of the best PD they've ever had."

"The new digital content that is being developed is so superior to old-world print, and it's cost-efficient," says Mark Edwards, the superintendent of the Mooresville, N.C., district, which attracts hundreds of visitors who want to see how its schools have integrated digital teaching and learning.

exponentially increases the power of assessment by increasing assessments, giving students a firsthand account of what they understand, and giving instructors the opportunity to intervene before a student falls behind. Assessment should mirror good instruction, happen continuously as part of instruction, and provide educators with information about students' level of understanding.

By reaching students at the exact moment they are trying to understand and requiring full comprehension before they move on, we can help prevent students from falling through the cracks later on in their education.

To accelerate their completion of remedial courses and stay on track to complete a certificate or degree program, students should take advantage of personalized learning technology that provides assistance outside of classroom time, such as online self-paced learning and assessment tools. These resources help students test their knowledge to determine areas of strength and struggle. Then, students can work at their own pace to master difficult concepts, and monitor their progress along the way.

1. Launch the work.

2. Examine the data. 

Combined ignorance does not create a powerful plan.

1. Personalized learning.

personalized, relevant and contextualized learning can increasingly be tailored based on the learner's own passions, strengths, needs, family, culture, and community.

2. Expanded learning opportunities.