K-12

“If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child — become a teacher. Your country needs you.”

Earlier this week, during his state of the union address , Obama called for our nation’s commitment to do what’s necessary to give every child a chance to succeed.  He referenced that nearly 1 in 4 of our high school students don’t graduate.  So I decided to dig a little deeper into those numbers. What I found was staggering:

• 30% of high school students don’t graduate
• 30% of high school graduates don’t go to college
• 50% of those who go to college don’t graduate in six years

This means that only 25% of the high school class of 2011 will graduate from college within six years.

People use a lot of different terms when they talk about Virtual Education: Blended Learning, Virtual Schools, or Virtual Programs. While we hear these words used interchangeably, it’s fair to wonder if there is a difference? And, how are schools and districts using these terms to define their virtual education programs? Many of our clients have shared their virtual education stories with us, so, let me breakdown for you what they’re saying: Calcasieu Co. in Louisiana has created a successful blended learning program through Blackboard Learn using tools such as blogs, wikis and podcasts to facilitate collaboration between students and teachers and encourage higher order thinking and problem solving skills. Blended learning combines the traditional brick and mortar school building with the Blackboard Learn platform and is commonly used to extend the school day and bring in engaging 21^st Century learning tools to the curriculum.

We’re starting the year off with a slew of new webinars and events that are sure to spark great conversations within our K-12 community. We hope you will join us for one or more of these engaging events in the coming weeks! January 19 at 4:00pm ET Webinar: Discover! Design! Deliver! An Integrated Solution for Online Content Creation and Score-Tracking

A few weeks ago, I went with several of my Blackboard colleagues to see Davis Guggenheim’s new documentary, Waiting for Superman.  I think that it is important that I preface this post with an admission: I am an outsider.  Unlike many of my peers at Blackboard, I am new to education – I have never taught a class in my life nor have I ever attended a PTO or school board meeting.  I am, however, a product of the public school system, so I assumed that what I would see on the screen wouldn’t be a huge surprise.  I think that is why I was both shocked and touched by what I saw: children who really wanted to learn, with parents who genuinely took an interest in their futures, desperately fighting to succeed in the public education system. 

Only 18% of today’s ninth-graders will eventually graduate with a postsecondary degree.  To help mitigate this impending crisis, Blackboard clients and contacts across the globe are implementing innovative policies and practices to close the gap between high school and college.  And in true educator fashion, they allowed us to share their greatest challenges and opportunities with you in Closing the Gap between High School and College – the newest publication in Blackboard’s growing body of practice-driven research.

For the report, we interviewed 24 education experts and leaders to pinpoint the three key challenges to closing the achievement gap: disparity between high school exit requirements and college entry expectations; lack of understanding and support for the modern student; and disconnect between skills being taught in high school and skills necessary for success in college and career.