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Friday, February 10, 2012

A Simple Innovation: Spend The Money Wisely | Taking Note

A Simple Innovation: Spend The Money Wisely | Taking Note:

A Simple Innovation: Spend The Money Wisely

With all the talk of innovation in education, wouldn't it be best to simply the discussion down to a few key points? John Merrow makes that attempt.

The New York Times has made official what most of us have known for years: the children of the privileged do better in school than the children of the underprivileged. This matters because the rich-poor gap is growing wider, and so (therefore) is the educational outcomes gap, what everyone calls ‘the achievement gap.’

Is educational innovation the way to close the achievement gap? A lot of smart people are hoping it will solve the problem. In the past few months I’ve been around a lot of innovations. I have watched theKhan Academy (and Sal Khan himself) in action, dug into ‘blended learning,’ Rocketship and KIPP, and looked at some Early College High School programs. I’ve been reading about new iPad applications and