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NewSchools Venture Fund Launches Education Technology Seed Fund

The NewSchools Venture Fund in San Francisco has announced the launch of a fund that will provide support to entrepreneurs working to develop education technology tools, applications, content, and services designed to improve opportunities for children from low-income communities.Unlike NewSchools’s Innovation Fund, which invests in organizations based on their potential to influence broader systems, the Education Technology Seed Fund will provide money, guidance, and advice to early stage companies in the educational tools marketplace.[Read the full article […] Read more
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PIE Network Welcomes Three Leading Education Reformers to Board of Directors

Three of the country’s top education reformers have joined the Board of Directors of the Policy Innovators in Education (PIE) Network, which supports and connects 34 advocacy groups working to improve education across the country.The new board members are:Denis Calabrese, president of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Houston, known for its major contributions to K–12 education reform. He is a public policy and communications expert who has advised government and corporate leaders […] Read more
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What Three Big EdTech Investments Say About The Future Of Education

This past week saw venture and private investors grabbing a pen to write checks to support three significant edtech trends: the move toward supporting Common Core standards, the use of “adaptive” learning technologies, and an increase in social media in education.The underlying theme, says Gloria Lee, chief operating officer of NewSchools Venture Fund, is about making education truly personalized for learners. “Tech tools that make it easier, faster, more effective—more personalized for […] Read more
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Initiative aims for 100,000 new STEM teachers

Partnership draws on member organizations’ expertise in recruiting and retaining talented educatorsA new national movement aims to increase the supply of math and science teachers and retain excellent teachers currently in U.S. classrooms by preparing 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next 10 years.Led by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Opportunity Equation, the NewSchools Venture Fund, and the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, the 100Kin10 initiative was sparked by President Obama’s […] Read more
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Bay Area Leading the Learning Revolution

Computers, then smart phones, then tablets changed how we engaged the world. Medical technology extended and entertainment technology enriched our lives. Energy saving technology made our lifestyles more sustainable. Bay Area entrepreneurs developed many of these disruptive technologies.New York and Boston are home to the publishers; metro D.C. is home to the giants of learning online. But the Bay Area is poised to lead the learning revolution.San Francisco is home to innovating […] Read more
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Grockit Raises Money for Online Test Prep

About half of students who take the SAT do nothing to prepare. Grockit, an education start-up, wants to change that by making test prep social and taking it online.On Monday, Grockit announced that it raised $7 million in venture capital, for a total of $24 million, from GSV Capital and NewSchools Venture Fund, which invests philanthropic donations in education businesses and nonprofit organizations.[Read the entire post at The New York Times] Read more
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BetterLesson Grabs $1.6 Million to Let Educators Find and Share the Best Lesson Plans

Since launching, BetterLesson has attracted a community of “tens of thousands of educators”,according to the company’s blog post, and has collected hundreds of thousands K-12 lesson plans. Last year, KIPP, the 112-school charter network, joined the platform and helped the team “develop a suite of premium features” for schools. In less than a year, the site’s paying customers have grown to over 200 schools.To help it grow, the startup has announced that it […] Read more
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NewSchools CEO Ted Mitchell: My Best Idea For K-12 Education

America’s school system is broken. On that the Forbes 400 can agree. America’s richest men and women give more to education-related causes than to any other issue. But in terms of how best to improve education, there is less consensus.Education-related causes that have benefited from the Forbes 400 wealth vary widely: Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to Newark’s public schools. Michael Moritz and his wife gave $50 million to his alma-mater Christ Church college. […] Read more
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The Intersection of Technology and Test Scores

“In Classroom of the Future, Stagnant Scores” blared the headline in New York Times on September 4th. The paper’s editors decided that the top-of-the-fold story on Page 1 also warranted two full pages inside, plus four color photos and a graph. That’s a huge part of the news hole on any day, but particularly on Sunday, when circulation is at its highest.The long piece is worth reading, but at the end of […] Read more
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The Super-Connected Classroom: Experiments in Ingenuity From the Ground Up

When Chris Lehmann, principal of the technology-rich Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, wanted to give teachers feedback on their lessons last year, he turned to his iPad. Lehmann wanted to deliver comments to teachers faster than typing them into Microsoft Word documents would allow. So he started entering compliments, critiques, and notes into teachers’ personal Google spreadsheets as he observed them, triggering instant alerts in their email inboxes.“It led to wonderful dialogue […] Read more
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