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Rocketship's Learning Lab.

Rocketship Education, a network of charter schools based in California, is changing the way students will use computers in its Learning Labs. Rather than spending chunks of time in computer labs with divided computer stations, students will be using computers in their classrooms, with the help of teachers and aids.

“The integration between the classroom and the Learning Lab was an area that could improve. That’s part of the reason that we made this shift,” said Charlie Bufalino, National Development Associate and former Online Learning Specialist at Rocketship. By moving computers back into the classroom, Rocketship is hoping to form a better connection to what students are doing on computers to what they’re learning in class.

In a PBS Newshour special last month, several teachers said that Learning Lab practice isn’t linked closely enough to what happens in class. Bufalino says that teachers have always been encouraged to use data from online learning to inform their teaching; that said, at its most basic level, the function of the Learning Lab was for skills practice, while teachers focused teaching on what they call higher order thinking skills in class. Now, Rocketship is hoping teachers will have more control over both.

“The idea is that in this more flexible model, there will be more time for teachers to diagnose and look at the data,” Bufalino said.

The data, however, can be overwhelming for teachers to analyze. Rocketship uses six different online programs, all with separate mechanisms and criteria for feedback. Rocketship’s national office has been working on building proprietary systems that unify all the data, so teachers look at one screen that compares apples to apples at a glance. Their integration system is aligned to the Common Core and teachers can see if students have mastered a skill, what method they used, whether they tried and failed, even how hard they’ve been working on it. Rocketship also invests money into academic deans who visit classrooms, help teachers analyze data and use it to shape their lessons, and generally coach teachers on how they can improve.

“The data drives how we want to group students,” Bufalino said. “It shouldn’t be acceptable that we have these different learning modalities and then still have them moving together in class.” And that’s what was happening to some extent when the Learning Lab was separate from classroom instruction. Teachers taught essentially the same lesson to all students. With the new approach, Rocketship is hoping they can effectively group kids according to their skill sets.

Bufalino was quick to point out that the move away from Learning Labs doesn’t mean the model wasn’t working – Rocketship has consistently posted good math and literacy test scores. They even boast that their students, 90% of whom are low-income and 70% of whom are English Language Learners, have math scores that rival the wealthiest school districts in California.

But Rocketship’s model has been criticized as using “drill and kill” computer games to keep students busy and to save money. But Bufalino says the computer software has helped learners who have fallen behind to catch up and high achievers to steam ahead. “The key is to see the program as a component to a larger academic plan,” he said. “It doesn’t work if it’s the only thing, but when a teacher scaffolds learning on top of that practice and uses it to influence content, it can be very effective.”

Rocketship doesn’t have all the logistics worked out yet, but they are imagining that the change will mean combining classrooms so that teachers are working in teams with the Learning Lab mentors, directing some kids to work on computers, some to do small group work and others to receive tutoring or direct instruction.

Rocketship also hopes that by having their mentors in the same classroom with teachers they can begin to build a teacher pipeline.

Rocketship Schools in the Bay Area have been one of the trailblazers in the ever-changing landscape of blended learning. Located in low-income neighborhoods, the schools’ Learning Labs — where students spend up to 90 minutes a day on computers working on math and literacy software — has been one of its defining characteristics.

But this model isn’t working, some Rocketship teachers say, and because it’s a charter school network with evolving systems, it may soon be changing, according to this PBS Newshour story.

“There’s definitely an aspect of us kind of not knowing enough about what’s going on in learning lab to be able to use that in our classrooms,” said teacher Judy Lavi.

“We don’t yet get data that says, OK, teach this differently tomorrow because of what happened here. And that is — that is a frustration point,” said teacher Andrew Elliott-Chandler.

Adam Nadeau, principal of Rocketship Mosaic Elementary, says he doesn’t think the Learning Lab model will continue next year. And Elliott-Chandler sees a different function for the computers.

“Next year, we’re thinking of bringing the computers back to the classrooms and the kids back to the classrooms,” he said.

But what will that mean for the cost-savings the Learning Labs have so far brought the charter school network?

Rocketship is being closely watched by those both inside and outside education circles. The network’s laser focus and success in achieving high scores by its low-income students, and its resistance to teacher unions, has caught the attention of states across the country.

So far, New Orleans, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Memphis have all approved charters for Rocketship schools to be built and CEO John Danner hopes to open 46 schools in the next five years, and eventually having a million students.

Lenny Gonzales

By Katrina Schwartz

As the blended learning movement grows in the U.S., schools will need to experiment with what works best in different types of settings. There’s still a lot to learn about different types of blended learning models, and a new nonprofit called Silicon Schools will raise and invest $25 million toward that effort.

With partial grants from the Bay Area’s Fisher family (owners of Gap), and the advice of board members Michael Horn from the Innosight Institute and Salman Khan of the Khan Academy, the nonprofit, which has raised $12 million so far, aims to fund new and innovative approaches in existing blended learning programs with grants to each school.

The effort is led by Brian Greenberg, who chronicled the successes and challenges of piloting the Khan Academy in Oakland’s Envision Schools on the Blend My Learning blog. During that process Greenberg and his staff were very open about the pros and cons of integrating technology into the classroom, and other educators added their perspectives to what worked and didn’t work on the blog. Greenberg points to the parts of the program that worked well, namely letting the technology do some of the heavy lifting in terms of grading, lesson planning and collecting analytics that free up teacher time to focus on students.

Giving students more responsibility for the learning process was also a significant outcome of the Envision pilot program. “What we’re finding is that if you make the steps clear and make them accountable, the more you put them in charge of the process the more they amaze,” Greenberg said, referring to students. The pilot program also helped move the class toward “proficiency-based learning,” in which a student is responsible for an intended outcome, but not penalized every step along the way.

Greenberg intends to apply one important lesson he learned from the program to the schools funded by the Silicon Valley Fund: Technology in no way replaces the teacher. At some point the usefulness of technology runs out and the educator’s role is crucial. He also says that technology doesn’t preclude the need for a good classroom management systems and positive school culture. Kids can get off track or “fake” work on sophisticated software just as easily as they could in a traditional classroom.

And lastly, Greenberg says it’s hard for schools to navigate the many tools that populate the ed-tech space, especially when each is tailored to a different subject and use. He says the whole field needs to become more integrated, almost like an app store for ed-tech, and one that works across platforms. Schools don’t have access to endless money and as a result, ed-tech entrepreneurs and businesses need to design more precisely with the client in mind.

What’s interesting about the fund’s goal is that very little is proscriptive. Greenberg was clear to recognize that this movement is in its infancy. There is no blended-learning canon that can be taught to teachers. Rather Greenberg says the educators need to write the playbook. They need to be at the table and in the laboratories of innovation. And if all goes according to plan, in five years the various Silicon Schools will be networking with one another, sharing ideas with schools from around the world and thinking about how to scale up and replicate best practices.

The fund sees itself as the infusion of cash that schools need to get these expensive and technology-heavy programs off the ground, but they have no intention of funding them forever. “The schools that we fund, all eventually balance on California public dollars,” Greenberg said. “The hope would be that by finding new models and new ways to meet the needs of each kid that we can still make excellent schools work on California funding rates.”

Greenberg says the fund will focus on schools in Silicon Valley to try and build an “innovation hub” in an area already known for taking risks. The idea is to connect educators interested in integrating technology into the classroom with tech entrepreneurs who can create the software, apps and tools that will be most useful to teachers. “This combination of world class entrepreneurship with front line educational expertise is extremely promising. And if we can’t make that intersection happen here, at the heart of Silicon Valley, then we don’t think it will be easy to make it happen anywhere,” Greenberg said.

HOW IT WILL WORK

Greenberg says the fund is willing to give up to $700,000 to about 25 schools if they can demonstrate a unique idea or way to implement blended learning that pushes the conversation forward. Grantees also must have strong leadership teams, a track record of success and a financially sustainable model. The fund expects schools to be able to offer their innovations on the same budget as a traditional California public school.

The fund isn’t pushing any particular model of blended learning like Rocketship, Khan Academy or the flipped classroom. Rather, they want teachers to evaluate what works and what doesn’t from those “1.0 models” and then collaborate with ed-tech entrepreneurs to develop new tools for the areas that have been neglected or don’t work well. “You start to mix those things together in a real school, with really good educators and really good kids who are bought into this vision and that’s when it starts to get exciting,” said Greenberg.

Blended learning is a relatively new concept with a mixed track record. Integrating certain types of technology into the classroom gives teachers and students real-time feedback so that each student can work at his or her own pace, and can give teachers accurate information that can help them better group students according to comprehension levels on a specific subjects. But educators point out that too often ed-tech focuses on improving test scores rather than on building creative thinking and a passion for learning in students and that schools still need passionate, innovative and dedicated teachers, no matter how kids absorb the content.

Greenberg agrees that it’s too early to expect schools across the country to buy into a blended learning model. But he does hope that some of the strategies that are piloted in schools funded by the Silicon Schools Fund will inspire other teachers and administrators to take elements back to their own schools.

“We see creating new schools that are essentially laboratories of innovation, that are trying many different approaches, all with the idea of making education more powerful for each student and each teacher,” explained Greenberg. In five years, he envisions that the Bay Area will have somewhere close to 25 examples of how blended learning could be done. Some of those schools could be charter schools, others public, some built from the ground up and others a transformed existing schools. He wants to see it all so that lots of new ideas and ways of doing things can be tested.

As gathering data about student performance becomes a bigger priority in education, schools are faced with different choices on how to capture that data. A slew of tech companies offer a variety of products they’ve developed for schools, but some school districts are creating their own data systems.

California-based charter network Aspire Public Schools is one of them. The school created a data system called Schoolzilla, a web-based data platform that is now available to any school who wants to use it for free. Teachers or administrators can sign up at Schoolzilla to get started. Aspire offers implementation of the system for a fee. So far, there isn’t a set price for the service; it depends on the degree of help each school needs to set it up.

The data tool, originally developed three years ago, allows teachers to synthesize data from multiple sources and create reports. Teachers can see whether the entire class is struggling on a particular math standard, for example, or whether specific students are falling behind. The idea is to help teachers decide what tack to take with individual students.

But academic performance numbers aren’t the only data captured. Since the platform accesses multiple databases at once, teachers can compare things like student absenteeism to their grades. Or they can compare students’ grades to their scores on standardized tests in the same subject. Or they can compare the frequency of calls home with the number of disciplinary actions needed at school.

“Teachers spent hours pulling data out of the attendance system, then the gradebook, then the tests, then matching it all together in massive Excel spreadsheets,” said Anna Utgoff, Aspires’ director of learning technology. “It was a ridiculous thing for teachers … to be spending their time on. We’re putting this all on a really flexible reporting platform, so we can make 100 versions,” of new reports depending on what teachers request, Utgoff said.

“Having all those reports at their fingertips gives [teachers] more time to plan and teach,” Utgoff added.

Aspire created Schoolzilla with funds from a combination of philanthropic donations, revenue earned by implementing the full data system in several districts across the country, and a $3.1 million Investing in Innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Like Aspire, Rocketship Education, a charter network with schools in Silicon Valley and across the country, has developed its own data system. And Aspire might spin off Schoolzilla into an independent start-up, much like LearnZillion, a for-profit education video site that was incubated at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington.

Rocketship Education, the Bay Area network of charter schools, is poised to grow big and bold in the next few years. Hinging its success on its own brand of hybrid learning — combining online and teacher-guided instruction in a tightly engineered school day — the charter network will grow from five schools open now to 25 by 2017-2018.

But it hasn’t been an easy trail to blaze. Skeptics from the San Francisco Unified trustees, which voted against approving a Rocketship charter in a low-income neighborhood, called the network’s tactics “an unsound educational program” and characterized its computer lab time as a “drill and kill” approach, according to a recent article in Thoughts on Public Education. In the end, however, the State Board of Education granted a charter to Rocketship.

The computer lab time they’re referring to is Rocketship’s now-famous Learning Lab, where students go twice a day, for 50-minute computer sessions in both reading and math. The online exercises are like short video games, featuring cartoon characters that reward students with points when they get the problems right.

Eight-year-old Xochitl Reece might not agree with the “drill and kill” characterization. Xochitl is a third-grader at Rocketship Los Suenos Academy in San Jose, and during a recent visit, was playing a math computer program.

“In math class, [the problems] are harder. And when I go to computer lab … I get them right. You learn more stuff, and it’s really fun,” Xochitl said.

For math teacher Alana Mednick, the Rocketship program makes good sense. “I don’t have to go through a lot of practice and kill and drill exercises,” she says (there’s that phrase again.) “They’ll be doing that using fun games and exercises, and in here they’ll be applying their practice knowledge. I think I’m allowed to be a teacher, more so because of this model, because I can teach to their general needs rather than having to play catch-up. So I’m teaching what I’m supposed to rather than what should have already been taught.”

Andy Jones, who analyzes trends in learning and technology at U.C. Davis, says computer programs can fill a huge hole in the learning process, allowing educators to focus on bigger things.

“Information that was once presented with a focus on recall and knowledge that can be delegated to technological implements, computer programs or web-based tools,” Jones said. “Instructors have to find what is the perfect balance between occupying their students with something that is fun, and giving them an opportunity to learn something important. That sweet spot is often difficult to hit for a programmer, or a textbook company or an instructor.”

Rocketship schools’ intense focus on test scores seems to be paying off. Their average API score is 868, far above public schools in similar low-income neighborhoods. At its flagship school, Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary, where 91% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, the 925 API score is the same as the average of the Palo Alto School District, a much more affluent community nearby.

What’s more, an independent study released in August by SRI International, which conducted a randomized controlled trial using DreamBox Learning, one of Rocketship’s math computer programs, those who used the program for 16 weeks scored 2.3 points higher on the Northwest Evaluation Association math test than those who didn’t — the equivalent to progressing 5.5 points in percentile ranking (for example, from 50 percent to 55.5 percent).

According to Aylon Samouha, Rocketship’s Chief Schools Officer, those students’ gains are not only statistically significant, but the fact that they were achieved in such a short time — 16 weeks — indicates that using the program for an entire school year would show even greater gains.

Motivating Rocketeers to do well on tests is a priority at Rocketship schools, as evidenced by the signs that hang from classrooms on campus. Hand-written and printed signs read “90% of students will score 90% (or higher)”; “Shoot for 950” in reference to current the 925 API score at the Mateo Sheedy campus; and “Beat the Test.”

SILICON VALLEY INNOVATION AND MONEY

Rocketship schools’ location in the heart of Silicon Valley is no coincidence. It’s tapping into the area’s spirit of tech innovation and deep pockets. The company has received a huge influx of cash — $3 million — from Silicon Valley executives of companies like Netflix, Facebook, and Skype.

The money will be spent to improve Rocketship’s computer software used to assess students, generate learning plans that identify student needs, and manage all the influx of data that comes from each of the learning programs.

As the school charter network grows, it’ll be interesting to watch how it’s received by other school districts, and how or whether the company itself will change to keep up with the growth.

- Reported with Ana Tintocolis

Hear the California Report story about blended learning and Rocketship and listen to KQED’s Forum discussion.

Flickr: Shankbone

Rupert Murdoch is slated to attend ed tech event in San Francisco

Reported by Ana Tintocalis

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush says he knows how to fix education in America and he’s convening a national summit in San Francisco today to promote his ideas. Bush formed The Foundation for Excellence in Education after he was termed out of office four years ago.

For this week’s event, he’s recruited media tycoon Rupert Murdoch to be a headliner. For those who don’t know what the controversial name has to do with education, it brings up some questions.

“I was dumbfounded. Rupert Murdoch as the keynote speaker? Would you want your children in a classroom with him?” said Ken Tray a San Francisco history teacher and union leader.

What Tray and others might not know is that last year, Murdoch purchased Wireless Generation, an ed tech company that produces learning software, and is behind the School of One program in New York, which tailors each students’ day based on data-driven performance records.

Patricia Levesque, from Foundation for Excellence in Education, says Bush has been on the forefront of provocative reforms, including expanding access to online schools.

In fact, the key focus of this year’s summit is innovation in classroom technology – specifically blended learning. Levesque says the foundation chose San Francisco as the site for the conference because of its proximity to the Silicon Valley, which is the heart of ed tech companies.

“Discussions on blended learning and technology are really about how to empower the teachers who are in the classroom,” Levesque said. “We hope lawmakers [who attend the conference] are going to think differently about how technology can extend the reach of a fantastic and effective teacher.”

Levesque says they plan to highlight San Francisco Flex Academy and Rocketship Education, a network of hybrid-learning schools, as models that should be replicated across the country.

The conference is expected to attract school superintendents, Los Angeles mayor, and education philanthropists from around the country.

Hear the full story on The California Report.

UPDATE: According to the San Francisco Chronicle, teachers unions and activists who are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement that’s spreading across the country plan to protest the two-day event because of what they describe as “the selling of public education.” Murdoch is scheduled to speak tomorrow morning.

Reporter Steve Begley, a blogger from the K-12 News Network, was thrown out of a panel discussion about school board governance when he asked Joel Klein, former New York City Chancellor who works for Murdoch, a question about News Corp’s revenue goals, according to a Mother Jones article.