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Taking Friedman to Heart

Guest Post by 5th Grade Teacher Mike LewisI spent my entire K-12 career dreaming of the day that I would be done with the classroom. My worksheets were completed, my boxes were checked, my grades were average. In short, I didn’t see the relevancy in going to school, aside from socializing. When I finally discovered how much fun it was to learn something new, build something from scratch, take pride in accomplishments; […] Read more

Innovators in Education

After 15 years of working to improve education by supporting and enabling the ideas and efforts of passionate innovators, instead of looking back, NewSchools Venture Fund is looking 15 years further down the road. We believe that looking toward the future is key to preparing for it. We also believe that the best way to understand the future is to listen to those creating it. Hear from NewSchools entrepreneurs about the challenges facing education, the solutions they are creating and the visions of the future informing and driving their work forward. Read more

Summit 2013 Session Videos

We are happy to make recordings of all the Summit 2013 sessions available to you. We will be adding content through out the week so be sure to check back soon for additional sessions. You can also check Our Vimeo Page where the sessions live. Read more

Education Entrepreneurs: Joel Rose & Chris Rush

Joel Rose and Chris Rush launched the first School of One program in New York City in 2009 at a time when few had heard about the promise of blended learning. Combining teacher-led instruction, technology-enabled individual tutoring, small group learning stations, and a unique scheduling algorithm that helped create a personalized learning program each day for each student, the program demonstrated the power of technology to customize learning based on each student’s […] Read more

Personalized Learning: Racing Too Fast?

A few years ago, I read a column by Bill Simmons (the Sports Guy of Grantland/ESPN fame), wherein he described his inexplicable resistance to watching new television shows that friends recommend to him. Because of this trait, Simmons failed to watch The Wire or Breaking Bad until they were well into their third or fourth seasons, two shows that he now hails as masterpieces (because they are). Despite some furious Googling this […] Read more

Unleashing great teaching

LearnZillion is all about celebrating teachers. In spite of what you might hear in the press, there are many superstars working in our schools, changing the lives of children every day. The problem is isolation. When one teacher figures out a highly-effective way to teach division of fractions, it doesn’t spread to all classrooms. Each teacher has to figure it out on his/her own—not a very efficient system, to say the least.  LearnZillion celebrates teachers […] Read more