At TIME Annie Murphy takes a look at ed tech – and really the importance of content and knowledge more generally – it’s well worth reading. Includes an appearance by the infamous tree octopus. There is indeed a lot of garbage out there in the ed software and online learning platform world and a disconcerting amount of tech-euphoria right now. But that doesn’t mean it’s all garbage. I’ve been road testing Dreambox, for instance, with my kids as guinea pigs and it combines engagement with actual content, in this case math. Not perfect or a replacement for teaching but a solid tool. Mathalicious is great, too. What do they have in common? Attention to instructional quality and content.
In Ed Next Bruno Manno takes a look at the rise of new groups like Stand for Children* and other insurgent parent groups. His overall thesis that it’s not the PTA of old is obviously spot-on and the article is a great roadmap to these new players. But worth noting that in a few cases the PTA isn’t the PTA of old either. For example in Washington State the PTA just came out in favor more more parental choice via charter schools.
*BW works with Stand.