Haiku Learning Blog

If you need evidence of how quickly of print resources are giving way to digital materials, a recent deal between Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Detroit public schools provides a perfect case-in-point. As reported by The Boston Globe on October 29, the $40 million, multi-year deal includes the sale of some textbooks, but largely provides the district with software like Learning Village to deliver educational resources and to connect students and teachers to a virtual network.

This is a huge step forward for online and blended learning because it further underscores the increasing momentum and success of digital learning. Such a shift to digital content ensures that schools will be able to keep content current and ultimately to tie that content directly into their online classrooms to provide students with even more resources.

There are a number of content providers that are already publishing great content for students, and this latest announcement is just one more indication that digital information is here to stay.

In his October 20 opinion piece “The New Untouchables” Thomas Friedman submits that addressing America’s current jobless rate and economic downturn by fixing only the banks and financial institutions is like putting a bandaid on a severe wound. What’s needed, Friedman says, is repairing the public education system, too.

It’s past time to consider what’s necessary to succeed …

He makes a strong case. We as a country got caught up in attaining The American Dream and failed to continuously align public education with our evolving goals and expectations. Now American workers are paying for that myopic mindset, having lost the competitive edge over foreign workers and even robots and computers. Those who are currently succeeding and will continue to thrive, Friedman says, are those with the gumption “to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services, new ways to attract old customers or new ways to combine existing technologies.” These people, says Friedman, are the untouchables.

… but we can make changes that will better position our future.

At a time when a college degree isn’t the ticket to success it once provided, we need to be smarter about school and teach skills that go beyond facts and figures. To Friedman, that means improving “entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.”

Haiku Learning’s take: we’re already on our way

Friedman may be right, and we’re glad he spoke up. While a retooling of the public school system gets debated and worked out at a national level, we’re seeing a grassroots movement in the Haiku community that indicates individual schools and teachers are already pushing in new directions. They’re setting up virtual classes that support their real-world classrooms, and in many cases the courses are exclusively online. They’re challenging students to think beyond what they read on the page and to apply knowledge and reasoning that really stretch their thinking.

We blogged in June about a K12 common standards initiative that was underway to develop baseline expectations for math and reading skills at the national level. The first draft of the proposed standards is now available for review, and public feedback is requested.

You have until October 21 to submit feedback. You can view the standards and give input online:www.corestandards.org/Standards/index.htm.

Speak Up

The Haiku team encourages you to review the standards and add your voice to the conversation. We’re excited about the opportunity that common standards will provide in terms of shared content and shared teaching and learning strategies, yet we recognize that it will take an extraordinary effort to implement the metrics and to ensure that they truly are benefiting students.

The initiative is led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Forty-eight states and three U.S. territories have joined the effort. See the complete list.