Deeper Learning Digest: Project-Based Learning and a Focus on Assessments

Welcome to the latest edition of the Deeper Learning Digest! Wherever you are, please accept our sincere hopes that it is not as hot there as it was in our nation’s capital last week. Can we please start our students on some projects based on weather modification on demand?

On a more serious note, CNN’s Inside Man with Morgan Spurlock aired a show on education recently. In two available clips, Spurlock visits a Finnish school  and then Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School . If you can catch the episode on your DVR, it’s probably worth a look to see what mainstream media’s perceptions of education are.

Onward to the digest!

News and Views

• Are We There Yet? College and Career Readiness Report Card – National Opportunity to Learn Campaign
• Resiliency and Grit, Not Failure – The Principal of Change
• Boosting Employability – Getting Smart
• Fixing the School-Business Breakdown – The Huffington Post
• Helping our students become global citizens – The Rockford Squire
• Study Calls Attention to NYC Effort on Black and Latino Male College Readiness – Diverse Issues in Higher Education
• Dancing with Robots: Human Skills for Computerized Work – Third Way
• The Conservative Case for Higher Common Standards – Getting Smart
• Achieve Releases State Framework For Competency-Based Education – Getting Smart

Project-Based Learning

• Best Tools for Project Based Learning – Ed Tech Review
• Project-Based Learning: A Parent Primer – Edutopia
• The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning – Mindshift
• Are Kids Who Make Their Own Video Games Better Prepared For The Digital Future? – Forbes
• 8 Essentials for Project Based Learning – Buck Institution for Education
• Project-based learning is the future, says mayoral candidate – Gotham Schools

On Assessments

• Experts Urge States To Stay Course on High-Quality Assessments – Education Week
• Let’s Truly Assess 21st Century Skills! – The Huffington Post
• Yes, You Can Teach and Assess Creativity! – Edutopia
• Florida GOP lawmakers urge break with Common Core testing group – The Washington Post

Multimedia

• Google Failed Big Time, But These Kids Made It All Right Again [Two students increased vaccine usage in their slum. Quite a project.] – Upworthy

Deeper Learning: Rahil’s Story – The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation