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Innosight Institute defines blended learning as: a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home. Innosight Institute's research indicates that there are four models of blended learning that categorize the majority of blended-learning programs emerging across the K-12 sector today. These four models are: Rotation, Flex, Self-Blend, and Enriched Virtual. To read detailed descriptions of the four models of blended learning, click here.

"This textbook is the result of over a year of collaboration between several individuals. Garth Holman, the Social Studies department chair and 7th grade world history teacher envisioned this project as a way to engage students through the use of technology and help them see the "big picture" that is often lost, or ignored, in history classes. Beginning in the summer of 2006, Garth began working with a student teacher, Michael Pennington (Currently teaching at Chardon Middle School). Another member of this project was Angie White, an intervention specialist at Beachwood Middle School (now at Hilltop Elementary in Beachwood CIty Schools). Angie provided a strong knowledge of curriculum differentiation and techniques to include students of varying abilities. A project of this nature, allows students to disseminate knowledge in a digital format that is congruent to the world in which they live. Our students are digital natives and this new technological paradigm allows for the democratization of knowledge. Wiki technology and the ability to instantaneously communicate across cultures and physical boundaries means that nothing our students create is isolated. We not only want our students to learn, but understand how the puzzle pieces fit to create the world in which we live."

"what Spritz does differently (and brilliantly) is manipulate the format of the words to more appropriately line them up with the eye's natural motion of reading. The "Optimal Recognition Point" (ORP) is slightly left of the center of each word, and is the precise point at which our brain deciphers each jumble of letters. The unique aspect of Spritz is that it identifies the ORP of each word, makes that letter red and presents all of the ORPs at the same space on the screen. In this way, our eyes don't move at all as we see the words, and we can therefore process information instantaneously rather than spend time decoding each word."

Restraint and Seclusion: Hear Our Stories (working title) is a new film by Dan Habib, Filmmaker at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire, and creator of the films Including Samuel and Who Cares About Kelsey? Learn more about the issue of Restraint and Seclusion at StopHurtingKids.com.

"Supportive relationships with adults at school and in the community can play a buffering role, the study found, increasing the chances that at-risk young people will stay in school - or go back to school after dropping out - despite the challenges they face. Those conclusions are based on a nationwide survey of more than 2,800 young people, nearly half of whom had dropped out at some point, along with focus-group interviews with more than 100 young people in eight cities."

Video from PBS - "In 1998, when Massachusetts first implemented new standardized testing that was required for graduation, administrators at Brockton High School learned that more than 75 percent of their 4,000 students would fail to graduate. But over the last decade a small group of dedicated teachers have changed the way every class is taught. They began a schoolwide literacy program to reinforce literacy skills in every class, including math, science and even gym. The transformation at Brockton has been remarkable: Failure rates for that state test have dropped to 6 percent for English, and the school was featured in a 2009 report on exceptional public high schools by the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University."

""What's worked well for us is the whole teamwork thing, realizing that we can't do it by ourselves and it's ridiculous to think we can," said King. "We show no shame in letting each other know when we fail." In addition, the school decided to group children by ability for 30 minutes daily in both math and English across the grade. That allowed some children to catch up, and a deeper dive for others even as they all learned the same basic material together. The change meant that for an hour each day, teachers left their classes and took a group of students that could number between 3 and 15, who were at a similar learning ability for that subject. As a result, the lessons, and the assessment of the children, had to be in lock-step. The strongest and weakest teachers worked as a team, and often met at the end of the day to discuss which lessons worked and which didn't. They also kept track of the progress of individual students using "exit tickets" or short assessments on tablets at the end of each class."

"I have learned a great deal about visual notetaking the past year as I've been working on my second eBook project, "Mapping Media to the Common Core: Vol I." Canadian educator Giulia Forsythe has been and continues to be inspirational to me. Rachel Smith's 18 minute TEDx talk, "Drawing in Class," has also been a big influence. Since I believe we should all "walk our talk," I resolved before the ISTE 2013 conference to try the suggestions of Giulia and Rachel at some of the conference sessions and create my own visual notes. Here are the results."

"Souhegan High School is a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, founded by Ted Sizer of Brown University.  Since it opened in 1992 inclusive education has been an integral part of its philosophy and practice.   This film illustrates how eight essential elements of school reform all work together to create an "inclusive community of learners" for each and every student at the school.  A student with significant disabilities, Amro Diab, is shown in a number of academic, social, and extracurricular situations, as an example of how "all means all" at this break-the-mold school. "

nice description of what is going on at the school. Example for districts in outlining purpose of TBTs, early release, etc. "At Montecito Union, our vision is to set a global standard of educational excellence. We strive to give our students the academic foundation to creatively solve complex problems, to apply interpersonal and collaborative skills, and to demonstrate a genuine sense of curiosity in a student-focused and supportive environment. We seek to help our students be empowered thinkers who positively impact and adapt to our ever changing and diverse world."

"At Challenge Success, we believe that our society has become too focused on grades, test scores and performance, leaving little time and energy for our kids to become resilient, successful, meaningful contributors for the 21st century. Every day, we provide families and schools with the practical, research-based tools they need to raise healthy, motivated kids. Success, after all, is measured not at the end of the semester, but over the course of a lifetime."

"The learners in my class of 2017 are geniuses. For over a year now, these students have had a chance to shape the agenda of their learning, at least part of the time. Because of genius hour, my students are learning to care again about learning. They choose what they will learn based on what they wonder about, what they are good at, and what they are passionate about."

"Creative Book Builder is a fantastic app that allows students to create books in epub format, which can then be exported to iBooks and shared with others. There are a variety of instructional uses for this app, from using it as a publishing tool for project-based learning to a summative assessment at the end of a unit.  Students can embed images, audio files, video files, and write text.  The advantage of an epub document over a PDF document is that all of the media will be preserved and available for readers to interact with when the final product is published.   Depending on how you use Creative Book Builder with students, this app can help students complete tasks that align with every level of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy.  Explore the different ways this app can be used at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy."

"Preparatory video for first-time participants and/or hosts of a World Cafe conversation. Originally made to introduce faculty at Florida State College at Jacksonville to the underlying principles of the cafe process."

"It gives me hope for quality classroom instruction in elementary mathematics. Be sure to notice the transition to a new task at the 4-minute mark, and how the teacher deals with the struggle that occurs at the 6-minute mark. Also please look in the kids' eyes. Watch their body language and their waving hands. Watch them think. Kids are practicing facts in this classroom. The teacher is providing instruction. Contrast with this (which is not a joke). You can flip this latter instructional sequence because it involves telling and choral response."

"We're starting this series with a look at Carpe Diem Collegiate High School in Arizona. This public school has been highly successful at increasing student achievement with their innovative, technology-enabled blended-learning approach. They've recently expanded on this success by offering of a fully online experience so that students across the state can benefit from their innovations."

"How it works: I give the bus driver a stack of 'report cards' at the beginning of each month. Each morning he checks the appropriate boxes (and sometimes writes notes about the previous afternoon) and gives the paper to the student. The student delivers the paper to me (or classroom teacher) on the way to class each morning. If the student has met his goal at the end of the week, he receives a reward. "

"MentorMob playlists are displayed in a step-by-step format that allow users to interact with live web content right on the page, keeping students on track without getting lost in a stream of open tabs and new pages. As students progress through a playlist at their own pace, MentorMob keeps track of completed steps. Flexibility to move within a playlist is provided by a preview that's always accessible on the side of the screen, allowing users to jump to different steps as needed for  reteaching and challenge. The newly added LearnZillion Common Core aligned lessons focus on the use of narrated video for instruction. The pause button allows students to tackle the learning at their own pace, while built in learning supports make this an instructional tool that addresses a variety of learning needs. A Coach's Commentary on the side of each playlists provides teachers with additional information and support. Most of the math lessons provide guided practice opportunities and some of these playlists are also available in spanish. "

"Cheryl M. Jorgensen, Ph.D., is a member of the affiliate faculty with the National Center on Inclusive Education at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. In 2008 she received the National Down Syndrome Congress Education Award for her leadership and pioneering research supporting the inclusion of students with Down syndrome. She has written this open letter to Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief academic officer for New York City schools. "

"The Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University studied the likelihood that workers without a college degree will still be able to find employment in the future. The report studied data about job opportunities and skill requirements through 2018 for 16 career fields. It used $35,000 as a livable wage baseline and compared unskilled workers, those with no college education, to middle skills workers, those with at least some college education. Among the report's findings: Women will need to have a college degree just to make as much as men with high school diplomas and job growth for people without college degrees has fallen 72 percent since 1973."