Online-learning advocates are calling a new report that recommends 10 ways for states to change policy to increase access and equity in digital learning one of the most comprehensive efforts of its kind.
And with two former governors leading the promotion of 鈥淒igital Learning Now鈥濃攖he first document released by the Digital Learning Council since former state chief executives Jeb Bush of Florida and Bob Wise of West Virginia announced the group鈥檚 creation in August鈥攖here are growing indications that policymakers outside the online-learning realm are considering the potential of digital technologies.
But whether the council鈥檚 goals are realistic remains to be seen.
鈥淒o you negotiate for the status quo plus an incremental change, or do you make it aspirational?鈥 said Mr. Wise, who conceded that some of the suggestions鈥攕uch as restructuring school funding models, teacher-pay structures, and course-completion guidelines鈥攃ould require daunting policy overhauls in most states.
Bob Wise on 鈥淒igital Learning Now鈥
鈥淲hat we put down [in writing] today, in a year, technology can rapidly make obsolete. But at least this provides a road map to every governor and every state chief policymaker and educator about steps we can begin implementing right now.鈥
In a meeting with Education Week editors and reporters, Mr. Wise and council consultants Tom Vander Ark and Bennet Ratcliff emphasized that most of the suggestions were already being carried out in early-adopting states. For example, during Mr. Bush鈥檚 tenure in Florida, a 2003 state policy change allowed state education funding to follow students who wanted to take courses from the Florida Virtual School, which operates as its own district and now serves about 97,000. That allowed the school鈥檚 enrollment鈥攆ree to all Florida students鈥攖o grow exponentially since then, unlike virtual schools in other states where political pressures have kept state virtual school funding, and thus enrollment, capped.
Mr. Wise and the consultants said other recommendations, such as transferring all state assessments to a digital platform and expanding state infrastructure to make a more hospitable environment for digital learning, are boosted by initiatives such as the common academic standards effort and the Federal Communication Commission鈥檚 .
鈥淚t comes along at just the right time, because now you鈥檝e got 41 [44 at press time] states who have said we want these [common] standards,鈥 said Mr. Wise. 鈥淭his gives states a chance to really look at how they鈥檙e going to implement the common core in curriculum, in teacher preparation and development, in assessments, and how best to do that online.鈥
While the council鈥攚hich convened entirely virtually and consists of 100 members from across education, business, technology, and research industries鈥攑lans to issue ratings a year from now based on how closely states are following their suggestions, there鈥檚 still no guarantee states will listen. Experts say the recommendation to link teacher pay to student course completion and performance could face opposition from teachers鈥 unions across states, and the suggestion to explore multiple providers of high-quality digital content may in some states necessitate abolition of textbook-adoption policies.
A report from the Digital Learning Council outlines 10 policies it says states and districts need to put in place and support to ensure high-quality digital learning.
1. Make all students eligible to be digital learners.
2. Give all students access to high-quality online courses and content.
3. Allow students to customize their learning via online content.
4. Allow students to advance at their own pace.
5. Ensure that all online content is high-quality.
6. Ensure that instruction and teachers are high-quality.
7. Allow students access to multiple providers of content.
8. Measure content and instruction by student learning.
9. Create funding and pay incentives for performance.
10. Build infrastructure to support digital learning.
SOURCE: Digital Learning Council
鈥淚 think that one of the things we noticed most was that it tends to look at developing policies as if there weren鈥檛 any prior policies on the state level,鈥 said Bradley J. Hull, the deputy executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education. 鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be a lot of work for states to look at what they already have in place.鈥
John I. Wilson, the executive director of the National Education Association, said advocating performance pay is a recycled idea that does not represent the 21st-century view the report is trying to promote.
Despite a suggestion calling for high-quality digital instruction, he added, the voice and role of teachers is absent from the report, though he does support its call for competency-based pathways that would let students progress at their own pace after mastering course concepts.
With more teacher input for the report, 鈥渋t would鈥檝e come out very clearly that technology is not a teacher; technology is a tool that enhances the teaching process,鈥 said Mr. Wilson. 鈥淵ou can tell there鈥檚 no teacher imprint in this document. I think that it鈥檚 a very corporate kind of document.鈥
鈥楧riving Innovation鈥
Some of the report鈥檚 guidelines may even garner concern within the online-learning world. For example, while all 16 member states in the Southern Regional Education Board have statewide online schools, Myk Garn, the Atlanta-based organization鈥檚 director of technology, said many may have reservations about the suggestion that all students have access to multiple content providers.
鈥淚鈥檝e got to kind of talk to my folks and see how well this aligns with their thinking and their directions,鈥 Mr. Garn said. 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 hearing from the Digital Learning Council, and their discussion, which makes sense, is less about the idea of driving quality, but driving innovation; that we鈥檙e not going to have the wealth of creative ideas coming in unless we have multiple providers.鈥
Mr. Garn also said that while the report is comprehensive, it shouldn鈥檛 ignore the realistic goal of incremental progress. He noted that policymakers in Michigan are more receptive to the idea of seat-time waivers that allow students to progress through courses at their own pace as a result of a policy passed in 2006 that requires high school students to take at least one online course before graduation, and thus exposes educators to the self-paced nature of online courses.
And, while still difficult, the state level may be the best bet for sweeping technology reform. Educational technology champions generally have praised federal government initiatives like the National Broadband Plan and the , federally generated outlines of how to increase broadband access in communities, and how to integrate technology to transform learning. But they say they understand a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a Democratic-controlled Senate鈥攖he political makeup of Congress come January鈥攃ould mean a lack of federal push for those goals, even if they are understood as being relatively apolitical.
With Mr. Bush, a Republican, and Mr. Wise, a Democrat, leading the Digital Learning Council, they say the body may have a strong chance to push more substantial reform.
鈥淭here are fundamental questions at the national level about what business we鈥檙e going to be able to get done,鈥 said Douglas Levin, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association and a member of the council鈥檚 executive committee. 鈥淭o have [the governors] cross the aisle and say that education is important and that we actually agree on a fair set of ideas 鈥 reflects a growing consensus that is not partisan, but plays out in a partisan environment, about productive ways to drive some positive innovation in education.鈥
