Nothing like a real, live press conference this morning to help with today’s newsletter. The policy-wonk initiative Digital Learning Now! (DLN), which operates under the auspices of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, released its 2012 Digital Learning Report Card today. The report measures the edtech savvy of each of the nation’s 50 states against a rubric the group calls the 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning.
There is a lot of data to chew through in both in the report and the slick interactive website. John Bailey, Executive Director of DLN, boiled the results down to a good news/bad news scenario. First, the good: States are being more aggressive when it comes to adopting data-driven, tech-enabled strategies for their schools. In 2012, more than 700 bills involving digital learning were considered and more than 152 were signed into law, with nearly every state enacting a bill that advanced a digital learning policy. Then, the bad: Even with the progress achieved in 2012, only six states – Utah, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Virginia, and Kansas – received an A or B grade. This should prompt some good discussion in the Twittervese (#DLNReportCard and #DigLN.) And as always, we’ll be covering it at the Edtechticker.
