To Customize or Not to Customize, That’s the Question
According to a 2016 White House report, the U.S. spends over $1.3 trillion on education expenditures. And the instructional materials market for K-12, which includes state adoptions, is over $19 billion. In large states, such as Texas, it makes sense to customize a national program. With smaller states, a calculation needs to be made: does…
Read More
U.S. Education Market Snapshot: English Language Learners (ELLs)
The Early Days In the 1960s, Victoria Porras attended Melrose High School in Massachusetts as an exchange student from Bogotá, Colombia. She was far from home. Her host family, teachers, and new schoolmates were friendly and eager to help, but the everyday English spoken in the Boston area is accented, idiomatic, and studded with acronyms.…
Read More
The Texas Reading and ELA Adoptions
All eyes are on Texas as it adopts reading programs, first for grades K–8 and then the following year for grades 9–12. Shifting Markets The textbook adoption market has changed over the last five years. While in past adoptions the major purchase was reading and language arts textbooks, the definition of what is a core…
Read More
Guided Deep Learning and the Future of Assessment
Victory’s spinoff metacog has been busy adding new features and functionalities. When companies look to incorporate metacog into their digital products, they want to know two things: How does metacog work? What can metacog help me do now that I couldn’t do before? The answers to both questions lie in our unique approach to guided deep learning application: machine learning steered by an…
Read More
Pathways to Translation Solutions
To translate is defined as “to render or express in another language.” It also means to explain in simple language, to interpret or infer significance, and to transform or convert. A translation involves all of these aspects and more. Expert translation requires: command of the source and target languages, a deep understanding of the cultural…
Read More
EdTech Round Up (May 2017)
By now, we know that educational technology is here to stay. Not only has “classroom” education expanded to include digital classrooms and smart technology, but pedagogical theories have found ways to embrace EdTech too. So EdTech isn’t just a trend, it’s a movement that touches just about every corner of teaching and learning. As these links from…
Read More
Curriculum Round Up
Curriculum is changing. Schools are moving towards competency-based assessment and personalized learning is becoming popular in many districts. Many states are moving away from the Common Core. All of these issues affect what is being taught in the classroom. How to keep up with the trends and movements? Here are some links to help keep…
Read More
Building Curricula for Makerspaces
What’s the difference between makerspaces and other trends in EdTech? Well, in fact, makerspaces don’t just represent one trend but rather all of them. That’s because these hybrid computer labs/art studios/machine shops can encompass any educational device or technology a maker might want to put into them. The sky’s the limit, and more schools and…
Read More
10 Benefits of Gap Analysis
The educational market is in flux. States are pushing back from both Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and assessments linked to the CCSS. States and publishers are waiting to see: Will funding be directed to charter schools? How many more states will drop out of the CCSS? Will states want summative, formative, or competency-based tests?…
Read More
4 Keys to Developing Spanish Assessments
As we discussed in recent posts, the assessment market is in flux. But this is nothing new. The passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002 disrupted the market, and for some companies this turned out to be a boon, as spending on state-level assessments nearly tripled in the next 6 years. As you…
Read More