we have just released two new white papers on curriculum alignment, and a personalized learning implementation framework with 25 tips.
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june 2017
featured news
time for a new look!
if you’re a regular visitor to the ed elements website, you might notice things look a little (ok a lot!) different these days. we were due for a make-over and we decided to improve our look as well as your experience. we’re all about personalization and we wanted to make sure you get the right information that is relevant to you!
we hope that our new website also serves as a good way for you to discover our various areas of expertise (hint, it is not just personalized learning), learn a little bit more about touchpoint, and read about all the amazing work that has been happening with the districts we support. there’ll be a few more tweaks to the new website in the days and weeks to come but hopefully you’ll be able to find information you’re looking for and news and ideas that inspire you to make a difference in your district, school or classroom. if there’s something particular you’re trying to find and you just can’t figure out where it went to, feel free to email yosr@edelements.com
on our minds
powered up and partied out
to you, our 3rd annual personalized learning summit may seem like distant memory but some of us are still catching up on sleep! trying to keep up with 500 amazing superheroes of personalized learning was quite a feat. we learned a tremendous amount, gave out more hugs, high fives and superhero cards than we can count and got more than a few digits to keep in touch with new friends. check out the photos here, slides from sessions here and blog post here. and stay tuned for pl summit 2018 deets to come soon!
new managing partner
we are excited to announce that david irwin joined 瑞士vs喀麦隆亚盘赔率
this month as a managing partner and is looking forward to the next chapter in his mission to transform public education. for the past 14 years, david has worked at gartner inc., the world’s leading it research and advisory firm, in several roles including supporting state and local government clients, edtech providers, leading north american consulting operations and leading product development for their events division. for the last 8 years david has lead (most recently as a senior managing partner) gartner’s k-12 education practice partnering with school boards, superintendents, chief academic officers and chief information officers supporting mission critical transformational initiatives. join us in welcoming him to the ed elements family!
hola, new mexico!
we are excited to add new mexico to our travel map! we have recently partnered with the ideal-nm, a statewide elearning program of the new mexico public education department, to develop and design their virtual program strategy. we will be using our virtual program implementation framework to help equip ideal-nm with an innovative strategy. curious about the framework? check it out here or read our blog.
spotlights
touchpoint: the new “touchpoint” page: move closer to reaching your district’s vision, one meeting at a time
our new “touchpoint” page makes it easier and more efficient to set up and manage the logistics, people, resources and actions for each meeting on your initiative roadmap. within seconds, district staff and school leadership teams can add the logistics, objectives and people and resources. the new “actions tab” lets users add actions, then drag and drop them to prioritize based on need. actions can be placed into three categories (pre-work, during, next steps) to make prep work and follow up crystal clear. teams can also monitor action completion with the new “at-a-glance” data widget - no more asking “did we do everything we said we would?”
put more structure to your meetings, centralize the key information and capture critical actions with the new “touchpoint” page. contact us to learn more about touchpoint and how it can support your initiative.
featured product: noredink
noredink premium is a web-based writing and grammar curriculum for students in grades 4-12. the program generates personalized content based on students’ interests (celebrities, musicians, athletes, video game characters, historical figures), allows them to edit and manipulate language in-context, and provides real-time feedback based on each student’s unique need(s).
teachers who use noredink can create diagnostics to assess students’ initial performance, monitor progress through differentiated assignments, and administer both formative and summative assessments to track growth.
students work through over 500 topics spanning grammar, usage, mechanics, style, argumentative writing, and expository writing; manipulating language in authentic contexts; mastering topics along the program’s scope and sequence; and verifying understanding through “checkpoints” and longform challenge passages.
almost half of all districts nationwide use noredink in some capacity, and the premium version is tightly aligned to the common core, state standards, as well as the act, sat, and nwea map to help students make dramatic skills gains in writing.
the program provides actionable performance data for students, teachers, individual schools, and districts as a whole. a recently-published case study by wested shows that 37% of students who used noredink premium achieved 200%+ of their nwea map language annual growth goals.
for more information on case studies and differences between the free and premium versions of the program, please visit our website.
resources
personalized learning implementation framework white paper
25 focus areas for schools and districts
guide to selecting curriculum to support personalized learning [part 2]
determine offline-online curriculum alignment and the role of digital tools
from the byot blog
personalized learning and cbe: a partnership and a toolkit
when i’m on the road working with school districts across the country on everything from personalized learning to competency-based education (cbe), i often hear the same question: “well how do other districts approach these issues?”
jarvis middle school student for a day
it’s been awhile since my last blog post as i try to document many of the great things going on at central valley on my twitter account, @cvthundersuper. a couple weeks ago i had the opportunity to live the life of a typical 8th grade student during the school day. i thank the student, skylar, and the wonderful staff at jarvis for not only being so patient, but also for inviting me into their world for a day.
pl summit 2017 was a hit! join our mailing list to be the first to know when registration for the 2018 summit opens. a call for presentation proposals will be announced this fall.
