Even in Virtual Schools, Teachers Make the Difference
- a Mark Holley
-
a
Online Learning, Method Schools, School Choice, highly-qualified teachers, smartfox, teacher quality
-
a 0 Comments
Date : 03 October, 2019
I'm not a teacher. I've never been a teacher. But this is my 20th year in K-12 education in finance, marketing, and product development, and I've had some thoughts lately about how education has changed in my time and what it will look like in the near future. While there have been some changes to how students are taught in recent years, schools operate in relatively the same way as 100 years ago. But change is accelerating due to the proliferation of school choice, online learning, and other technology advances.
One continual roadblock is the propensity of the local, state, and federal government education offices focusing on inputs rather than outcomes. Another is the reliance on measuring student proficiency and growth using arbitrary and inaccurate standardized tests. But that's another blog topic altogether. And another is resistance to change, and specifically, school choice. How anyone can be against school choice in 2018 is difficult for me to understand, and it's a form of discrimination that has to be fought at all levels to ensure future generations have access to the personal learning they deserve.
One thing that hasn't changed, and probably won't, is the need for great teachers. Today's effective teacher is part data analyst, part social worker, part public relations specialist, and part learning facilitator. Effective teachers aren't resistant to change but rather embrace it. Framing change management like this sounds like the usual jargon that can be found on oversimplified and overplayed memes that circulate on Linkedin. But it's true.
Countless studies have been conducted, including our own at Method, showing that the teacher is the biggest determinant of student success - at least on the school side of things. A supportive home structure that emphasizes learning and education probably plays the most important role. But in the classroom, whether online or in person, the teacher is key. We built SmartFox with this in mind.
We consider SmartFox a working project. It's evolving based on student and parent feedback, performance, and teacher recommendations. And it's getting better. Every day we make progress on our goal to make it the ultimate teacher tool for success. For example, today we just finished a new way to show progress on the student dashboard, and to communicate results in real-time to students and parents. This is just one example of the many "10,000 steps" we're taking to make SmartFox, and of course Method, work for students. Combining teachers who fit today's model of education with software that empowers them - and their students - is our mission for this project.
I'm looking forward to the next several months as we add more features and dial in our curriculum, giving our teachers the best possible resource, besides themselves, to help students succeed. There has never been a better time to be involved in K-12 education, and I'm grateful to be playing a small part in the revolution.
- Charter Schools (44)
- Online Learning (39)
- Project Based Learning (35)
- School Choice (23)
- Method Schools (22)
- Small Class Sizes (21)
- Online Curriculum (19)
- online high school (16)
- online home school (16)
- homeschooling (14)
- smartfox (14)
- Independent Study (13)
- Service Learning (13)
- home school (12)
- personalization (10)
- Class Size (9)
- online homeschool (9)
- quality schools (9)
- virtual school (9)
- Innovation (8)
- Method High School (8)
- Blended Learning (7)
- Choosing the Right School (7)
- E-Learning (7)
- Homeschool with Method Schools (7)
- Online charter school (7)
- Robotics (7)
- Summer School (7)
- Traditional School (7)
- homeschooling, routine (7)
- online middle school (7)
- public charter school (7)
- teacher support (7)
- virtual school routine (7)
- Class Size Reduction (6)
- Data Driven Education (6)
- homeschool decision (6)
- virtual school setting (6)
- Character Education (5)
- Non-traditional schools (5)
- Virtual School Looks Like (5)
- curriculum (5)
- homeschool (5)
- online summer school (5)
- typical day in a virtual school (5)
- Breakthrough Schools (4)
- Change (4)
- Field Trips (4)
- Focused Direct Instruction (4)
- STEM Charter School (4)
- STEM School (4)
- adaptive curriculum (4)
- community service (4)
- focus (4)
- homeschool academics (4)
- homeschool curriculum (4)
- homeschool tips (4)
- online public schools (4)
- personalized instruction (4)
- school districts (4)
- school expectations (4)
- student athlete (4)
- teacher quality (4)
- testing (4)
- AB 1505 (3)
- AB 1507 (3)
- Differentiation (3)
- EdTech (3)
- Getting into college (3)
- PBL (3)
- Virtual public school (3)
- academic growth (3)
- common core (3)
- culture (3)
- education funding (3)
- educational freedom (3)
- elearning (3)
- experiental learning (3)
- hands-on learning (3)
- homework help for parents (3)
- individualized learning (3)
- middle school (3)
- parent teacher communication (3)
- parenting (3)
- personalized learning (3)
- remote work (3)
- school flexibility (3)
- school routine (3)
- study tips (3)
- success (3)
- teacher availability (3)
- tiles (3)
- AB 1506 (2)
- COVID-19 (2)
- California legislature (2)
- Customized Classroom (2)
- Goals (2)
- Homeschooling solution (2)
- LMS (2)
- Leadership (2)
- Learning Disabilities (2)
- Motivation (2)
- Online high school classes (2)
- Outcomes (2)
- Rotational Model (2)
- SIS (2)
- Socialization (2)
- Station Rotation (2)
- UC a-g (2)
- back to school (2)
- best school fit (2)
- caasap (2)
- charter school funding (2)
- education budgets (2)
- enrollment (2)
- enrollment growth (2)
- extra-curricular activities (2)
- flexible school schedule (2)
- free summer school (2)
- good curriculum (2)
- grit (2)
- growth mindset (2)
- highly-qualified teachers (2)
- homeschool research (2)
- homeschool socialization (2)
- how to study (2)
- is school a fit (2)
- online (2)
- online elementary school (2)
- online school (2)
- opportunities to serve (2)
- remote learning (2)
- schools and dyslexia (2)
- succeed in school (2)
- summer enrichment ideas (2)
- test prep (2)
- ADD (1)
- ADHD (1)
- ADHD holidays (1)
- Accountability (1)
- Accredited homeschool programs (1)
- Activities for kids (1)
- Audio Notes (1)
- California LCFF (1)
- Doctorate (1)
- Dyslexia (1)
- Dyslexia help (1)
- Education Dogma (1)
- Exercise (1)
- FDI (1)
- Graduation (1)
- Grants (1)
- Help for Learning Disabilities (1)
- Holiday Volunteer Opportunities (1)
- Homeschool misconceptions (1)
- How to take notes (1)
- Learning help (1)
- Legislation (1)
- Los Angeles Charter Schools (1)
- NCAA approved (1)
- NGLC (1)
- Note Taking Tips (1)
- Online charter schools (1)
- Outlining Notes (1)
- Parents and Dyslexia (1)
- PhD (1)
- Robotics in School (1)
- STEM Education (1)
- STEM Program (1)
- Schoolism (1)
- Science (1)
- Science Fair (1)
- Student Marketing Projects (1)
- Technology in Education (1)
- Tenacity (1)
- Traditional Public School (1)
- Virtual schools in California (1)
- WASC (1)
- WInter Vacation (1)
- What is Dyslexia (1)
- Why did I choose to homeschool (1)
- Why homeschool (1)
- achievement (1)
- alternative education (1)
- alternative learning (1)
- anti virus (1)
- athletics (1)
- automation (1)
- autumn service learning project (1)
- blue track (1)
- breakfast and school performance (1)
- bullying (1)
- careers (1)
- charter school gro (1)
- children with developmental disorder (1)
- connected learning (1)
- custom online courses (1)
- customer-centric schools (1)
- data (1)
- diagramming notes (1)
- distance learning (1)
- does virtual school work (1)
- equality (1)
- failure (1)
- flexibility (1)
- give back to the community, giving back (1)
- growth in charter schools (1)
- haiti fundraiser (1)
- holiday stress for kids (1)
- homeschool and college (1)
- homeschool objections (1)
- homeschooling saves money (1)
- how to enroll at method (1)
- how to outline (1)
- importance of breakfast (1)
- jade fernandez (1)
- kindness (1)
- learning management system (1)
- method dirt team (1)
- mind mapping notes (1)
- mobility (1)
- mountain biking (1)
- myths about charter schools (1)
- no help for bullying problem (1)
- notetaking (1)
- online safety (1)
- open records (1)
- plan c (1)
- problems with school clicks and bullying (1)
- professional development (1)
- psychological stress of school overcrowding (1)
- public schools (1)
- public tax dollars (1)
- red ocean (1)
- robotics program (1)
- safety (1)
- san diego charter schools (1)
- school funding (1)
- school not working (1)
- school overcrowding (1)
- school partnerships (1)
- school problems (1)
- school social hierarchy (1)
- smaller schools (1)
- sportsmanship (1)
- spring break (1)
- stem (1)
- student actor (1)
- student blogs (1)
- student conflicts (1)
- student data (1)
- student information system (1)
- students who are behind not getting help (1)
- taking notes (1)
- teaching your child how to give back (1)
- the foundry (1)
- transparency (1)
- virtual public schools (1)
- volunteering (1)
- volunteering ideas (1)
- what is a good school (1)
- what is a virtual school (1)
- what makes a good school (1)
- when to leave a school (1)
- why do we have school problems (1)
- why do we have school shootings (1)
- why should I homeschool (1)
- winter break (1)
