Education Week - Sizing Up: Blended Learning - S35

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school networks such as KIPP-the
Knowledge Is Power Program. At
DePaul, students of all skill levels
are rewarded for completing 85 percent
of the online content that is difficult
but doable for them-a sign of
persistence.
Such networks and consortia
are also supporting efforts by some
nonpublic schools to use blended approaches
to rethink the classroom
experience.
The nonprofit Jesuit Virtual Learn-
ing Academy, based in Omaha, Neb.,
has for the past six years provided
online coursework to students in
some of the country's 60 Jesuit secondary
schools. Now, the group is piloting
an effort to create new blended
approaches in subjects like history
and theology and to connect students
and teachers around the country.
"It's about digging deeper and find-
ing ways of delivering collaborative
experiences for students," said Jeffrey
L. Hausman, the Jesuit academy's
founder and executive director.
Another group, the Affordable Jew-
ish Education Project, based in New
York City, provides similar support to
Jewish day schools.
And five independent high schools
in Northern California recently
formed the Bay Area Blend-Ed Consortium.
That undertaking will focus
on helping "students prepare for the
changing methods of instruction and
communication they will see in college
and the workforce" while preserving
the culture that lies "at the
core" of their educational missions,
the group said in a statement.
"It's a particularly valuable ap-
proach for these schools because
they tend to be so small," said John
Watson, the founder of the Evergreen
Education Group, a Colorado-based
online-learning consulting group involved
in the consortium.
A Leadership Role
Elite private schools, meanwhile,
are "infusing their programs with
technology," said Mr. Chubb of the
independent schools association,
but the extent to which they are
changing instruction is less evident.
Partly, that's because such schools
are widely perceived to be working
well. Families also expect those
schools to provide intense studentteacher
interaction in small classes.
But the dynamics of higher education
are instructive, said Mr.
Chubb. Elite institutions were slow
to enter the online and blended
arena but later quickly assumed a
prominent role.
"We have an opportunity to [pro-
vide] some leadership in the field,"
he said. "The next step in all this,
and where these schools are beginning
to experiment, is rethinking
how students should learn." n
PRIVATE SCHOOLS ON
THE CUTTING EDGE
Roman Catholic, independent,
and private schools have
generally been slow to
embrace blended learning,
but observers say a handful
of such schools and
consortia are working on
forward-thinking initiatives
that stand out. Notable
examples include:
BAY AREA BLEND-ED CONSORTIUM:
In October, five Northern California
independent schools announced a
new blended learning partnership.
Working with the Evergreen Education
Group, the schools will begin this
coming fall by offering one-semester,
elective courses in such subjects
as art history and ecology, expected
to feature small class sizes, lots of
face-to-face time with teachers, and
hands-on experience at locations
around the Bay Area.
ONLINE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: Founded
in 2009 and now a consortium of
more than 70 leading independent
schools for girls, the network
bills itself as "the first singlegender
online school and the first
independent online school in the
world." Blended course content is
developed by teachers at consortium
schools-a contemporary twist on
a longstanding practice among elite
private schools.
PHAEDRUS INITIATIVE: Founded
in 2011, the New York City-based
nonprofit has helped build blended
programs at Catholic elementary
schools in Los Angeles, Philadelphia,
San Francisco, and Seattle.
Philanthropic funding from the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation and
others has supported the costs of
hardware, infrastructure upgrades,
software, and staff needed to get
the programs running-typically
about $750,000 per school. The
goal is to improve academic
performance, cut per-pupil costs
by roughly 20 percent, and boost
enrollment to make the new
blended programs self-sustaining
after three years.
PHILLIPS ACADEMY: The prestigious
New England boarding school
announced in October that it would
produce a complete calculus course
that Khan Academy, the popular
producer of free online educational
content, will make available to its
millions of users.
-BENJAMIN HEROLD
EDUCATION WEEK: SIZING UP BLENDED LEARNING > www.edweek.org/go/blended-learning JANUARY 29, 2014 | S35
Michael I. Cohen, Ed.D.
Manager in Assessment, Research & Evaluation
Denver Public Schools
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or call 1-800-313-9833.
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Education Week - Sizing Up: Blended Learning

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