What We Learned about Homeschools & Independent Study Schools
The Learning Collective recently evaluated four charter homeschool / independent study schools. It was interesting and illuminating work. The student body of homeschools varies greatly – from affluent suburban kids to world-class athletes to young people in and out of incarceration. Here is some of what we at The Learning Collective learned …
More Authorizers Partnering with Consultants
Charter school authorizers are increasingly partnering with consultants. We see this in our ongoing and renewed partnerships with these and other charter authorizers:Â Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York, Washington State Charter School Commission, New Jersey Department of Education and Nevada State Public Charter School Authority.
Strategic Planning with AoC
The Learning Collective has partnered with Academy of the City on a number of projects over the past four years from charter renewal application assistance to school quality reviews. It is the strategic planning process we developed and facilitated, as well as the final product, of which we are the most proud.
Lessons Learned from the Midwest
From inner-city Detroit to rural Minnesota, The Learning Collective has been hard at work over the past several years evaluating the efficacy of charter and traditional public schools in the Midwest. There are a few things we’ve learned in the process.
Technology Crash Landing
 Singularity University was started by some of Silicon Valley’s top companies – Google, Cisco and others – to teach individuals, businesses, institutions, investors, NGOs and governments how to leverage the newest technologies to benefit mankind.  Singularity published this article, written by Nathaniel Calhoun and based on an interview with Adam Aberman (both Members of The […]
Rethinking Mentoring
Before Adam Aberman founded The Learning Collective, he launched and ran ICouldBe.org, an e-mentoring, career development, and college guidance system for low-income teens. Â Teens select their e-mentors, from around the country, with whom to work on 100% web-based projects over the course of an academic year. Â ICouldBe.org has served about 20,000 teens with about 10,000 […]
Writing & Discourse Not Happening at Blended Schools
  The Learning Collective was recently in Detroit working with four of the city’s traditional public and charter schools.  Several of those schools rely heavily on digital learning programs. The Learning Collective has noticed that in these and other blended learning schools there are two areas that tend to get left behind: writing and discourse.
20 Takeaways from NACSA and iNACOL Conferences
 The Learning Collective recently attended two annual conferences: NACSA / National Association of Charter School Authorizers and iNACOL / International Association for K-12 Online Learning.  Keeping the list to just 10 proved too difficult so here are the top 20 takeaways from those conferences:
Work + School + Fail?
Strivers.LA is an application designed to help students succeed.  The current product is a free digital exam and study optimization tool.  When students sign up at Strivers.LA and enter an exam date, the application generates suggested study times and sends messages to keep the student’s studying on track.  Strivers.LA exam calendars are designed to be […]
Data Management & Analysis
The Learning Collective recently worked with Citizen of the World Charter Schools to improve its data management systems. Â Citizen of the Worlds Charter Schools (CWC) is a network of charter schools growing from two schools in California to five schools in New York. Â CWC needed to enhance its approach to data storage and use of […]