Texas has been a vocal holdout on adopting Common Core State Standards (CCSS) since the beginning. Last week all 14 publishers who submitted high school biology textbooks for adoption in TX ignored the state’s demand to include creationism. I believe these two news items are directly related and reflect a huge shift in the market dynamics for instructional…
Frank has a great post over on Geekwire that does a great job of explaining why Dumbo Drops of tech don’t work in schools. The question he didn’t completely address is why do people keep making this mistake? One explanation is that a massive initiative that “attacks” a “problem” is…
The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and the Association of American Publishers School Division (AAP) announced their intent to merge last week. I’m currently the Board President at AEP. As one of the principals in the deal I thought it would be useful to share my perspective on why we…
The Common Core Standards are causing a lot of angst across the world of education. Fortunately Brandt Redd is here to help. Over at Of That he lays it all out in a lucid and well linked overview “The Common Core State Standards – For My Concerned Friends.” He cuts through…
We’ve all heard the voices of DOOM about the looming budget cuts from the sequester. I call BS, at least as it affects K12 education. Laziness often drives how we talk about education funding. Because it is easy to track federal spending we focus our energy there. But this willfully…
Last Tuesday the Secretary of Education said “I think we should be moving from print to digital absolutely as fast as we can over the next couple of years. Textbooks should be obsolete.” He was clear that he sees the digital transformation in schools as a “critical game changer” for…
UPDATE: For those who took offense at this graphic know that as I saw it the teachers’ drinking was a result of the cycle, not the cause. I interpreted this graphic as a slag on parents (myself included). If you are a teacher and were offended please accept my apology.…
Is the instructional materials market in the tank? I’ve spoken with people at a dozen companies who are all seeing the same thing – since November 1st a moderately down market has dropped like a stone. A senior executive at one of the big 4 publishers flatly stated that this…
In “Four years into the ebook revolution: things we know and things we don’t know” Mike Shatzkin does a great job of summarizing the state of the trade publishing business. Education Publishers take note – this is your future. In “Predicting Player Behavior and How Zynga Profits From Data Analysis”…
Ed Note: One of my favorite thinkers and practitioners on engaging kids deeply with Math and Science is Jim Bower. Jim is that rare combination of theorist and practitioner who is successful in both realms. He is both a Professor of Neuroscience at UTSA and the Founder/CEO of Whyville.net, arguably…