Technical Education

This policy brief presents findings from a convening of California school district superintendents on the barriers encountered and methods used to overcome obstacles in efforts to successfully implement blended learning programs.

This report by the Aspen Institute takes a look at the different ways young students learn today. Backed by research and stakeholder input, it recommends ways that teachers and policymakers can expand learning opportunities for students, making the best and safest use of the technology and resources available in today’s changing learning environment. 

This white paper examines the impact of blended learning in 13 schools in New Hampshire where state law mandates high schools measure learning by mastery of a subject rather than by credit hours. The report cites several ways in which blended learning can support competency-based learning, including on-demand testing, alternative pathways to learning, and personalized learning. 

This special report from Education Week, directed to school leaders, maps the current educational technology marketplace and takes a look at the fastest growing categories in the sector, including increasing use of online testing and virtual education. The report gives school leaders tips and advice on how to narrow down their choices and make wise decisions in the fast-growing world of ed-tech products and services. 

This article—published by the National Center to Improve Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Personnel for Children with Disabilities—examines how four states implemented new technologies (at either the state or regional level) in order to revamp their approach to recruiting and retaining special education teachers and specialists. Though limited data are available, all of these technologies appear to have had a positive impact on states’ recruitment and retention efforts.

This case study, published by Public Impact, examines Touchstone Education’s efforts to expand teachers’ impact on students and peer teachers. The study focuses on a small, first-year school within the charter school organization that has big plans for growth, examining how it combined multi-classroom leadership and time-technology swap to boost reading results.

This case study, published by Public Impact, focuses on Rocketship Education—a network of seven public charter schools in San Jose, California. The case study examines Rocketship Education’s staffing model, as well as its incorporation of technology into the school day to extend the reach of great teachers and obtain proven results.

Blended learning that combines digital instruction with live, accountable teachers holds unique promise to improve student outcomes dramatically. This brief explains how schools can use blended learning to encourage improvements in digital instruction, transform teaching into a highly paid, opportunity-rich career that extends the reach of excellent teachers to all students and teaching peers, and improve student learning at large scale. Public Impact calls this a “better blend”: combining high-quality digital learning and excellent teaching.

The Digital Learning Day promotes the use of technology to support K–12 teachers in public schools. Through this initiative, the Alliance for Excellent Education draws attention to the successful technological innovation in classrooms across the country. The first Digital Learning Day touched the lives of 2 million students through tens of thousands of educators. Entrepreneurial districts and schools that have been particularly successful with technological teaching methodology are brought to center stage at this event.

The Clayton Christensen Institute, whose mission is to apply “disruptive innovations” to develop and promote solutions to the problems of K–12 education, maintains a database that profiles and presents data about schools implementing blended-learning programs nationwide. You can search for school profiles by different characteristics of the blended learning program, such as focus, type of blended learning model, blended subjects, or education tech tools used.