States have an opportunity to replace or enhance current assessments with those that measure complex demonstrations of mastery, integrate multiple points of learning evidence, and provide an accurate picture of each student’s learning trajectory so stakeholders can respond with customized supports and interventions.

A new demonstration program will provide interested states with a unique opportunity to pilot high-quality, rigorous assessments that validate mastery of academic knowledge and core competencies through more complex performance-based tasks

I wondered aloud how they were able to find a company that seemed to “get CBE” when so many of the vendors keep reproducing courses as the center of their architecture

The problem is the folks over thirty think they know what a student information system is.” His statement gets to the heart of the issue – what does a student information system look like in a student-centric, personalized, competency-based system?

Second, we focus on mastery. This means we want students submitting multiple pieces of evidence of their learning in multiple contexts. Third, we want to be less course-oriented, more performance-oriented. Fourth, we want to make sure that students can see their growth and progress. Finally, we want everything to feed into a meta-profile for students.”

without systemically planning for the digital conversion and shifting the instructional pedagogy at the classroom level, the power of digital learning tools is not being maximized. However, when implemented properly, digital learning can support a change in school culture and help yield a more student-centered, personalized learning environment significantly benefiting all children.

Upon completion of a needs assessment, school leaders must collaborate to develop concrete action plans for implementation including timelines, procedures, and responsibilities for all key areas. Without such a planning process, gaps widen, timelines diminish, and success rates crumble. Implementing without a plan is like driving cross-country without a GPS.

technology’s effectiveness comes down to high levels of engagement, focusing on higher order skills not drill and kill, and utilizing the right blend of teachers and technology.

to increase student engagement.

Student learning is the ultimate measure of the success of a teacher and an instructional leader.

LEA developed SLOs are content-specific, grade level learning objectives that are measureable, focused on growth in student learning, and aligned to curriculum standards.

As a measure of teachers’ impact on student learning, SLOs give educators, school systems, and state leaders an additional means by which to understand, value, and recognize success in the classroom

teachers have been painfully slow to transform the ways they teach, despite that massive influx of new technology into their classrooms.

Researchers have identified numerous culprits, including teachers' beliefs about what constitutes effective instruction, their lack of technology expertise, erratic training and support from administrators, and federal, state, and local policies that offer teachers neither the time nor the incentive to explore and experiment.

"engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 seeks "to ensure that all children have a fair, equitable, and significant opportunity to receive a high-quality education that prepares them for post-secondary education or the workforce, without the need for postsecondary remediation, and to close educational achievement gaps.’’ It focuses on state responsibility over schools and reduces the test-based accountability system from the No Child Left Behind Act.

The ECAA would refocus curriculum from teaching students how to score well on standardized tests, instead focusing on producing well-rounded and fully educated students.

With the passing of the ECAA, funds from Title I, Title II, and Title III would be allowed to be used in early childhood education programs.

The emphasis is to provide teachers with 21st century technology tools that enable them to reach their students in more innovative and effective ways. With shared access to Google Apps for Education, Edmodo and other great collaborative initiatives for our students and teachers, we can train and equip all teachers interested in reaching their students beyond the conventional educational structure.

Jukes et al. explain how children growing up emerged in technology lack a balance of the digital and non-digital experiences of life. 

More than 60 percent of students today are visual or visual kinesthetic learners (Jukes et al., 2010, p. 31).

Digital generation students prefer to be engaged and discover course content through exploration, interaction, and collaboration more than non-digital generation students that may prefer being lectured.

Dr John Gottman, founder of the Gottman Method Couples Therapy, states that 69% of the problems that we deal with in our relationships are never solved. What determines whether the couple stays together or not relies on whether both people are able to accommodate and accept the traits and characteristics of their partner that irritate them.

One of my absolutely favorite teachers, Marianne Williamson, states that our neediness in relationships don't come from what we are not receiving from the relationship. Rather, it stems from what we are not allowing ourselves to receive from God.

Accelerated gratification: with instant consumption, ambient assistance, and contextual awareness, the delay between desire and result is shrinking. Instant feedback and constant affirmation of status will be the norm. Patience may be a virtue, but it will be measured in seconds, not days.

2) Total Kid Awareness: mobile devices, ubiquitous surveillance, facial recognition, and other tracking technologies means that knowledge of a child’s location and behavior will be constant and complete. Parents and guardians will have to choose when and where NOT to monitor their kids, as there will be few holes in the surveillance nets.

3) Juvenoia: the ‘exaggerated fear about the influence of social change on children,” as David Finklehor defines it, and the other fears we have of and for children growing up today is driving a series of social policies and laws to exert greater protection from and control over kids.

4) Programmable kids: will heavy scheduling and the algorythmic life infect a kids world as well? Will constant technological mediation make kids (and future adults) too dependent upon programs and interfaces between them and the world? If we are living through programmed routines and choice architectures, who are the programmers, and what are they programming us to be?

5) The Global Child: Reality for children today is not confined to their room, or house, or school—it is a global community of networked peers and endless virtual horizons. Creating and sharing videos with billions is a normal activity for many kids today, giving them a vastly different perspective on distances, times, and relationship with others than previous generations held.

6) Enchanted Kids: kids are empowered and connected in ways not seen before. This “magic” that they wield with ease, and the expectations that are being inculcated now for technology, society, and even reality, will echo through time as these generations grow into key players in the economy and society.