Event: What Can Blended Learning Do for Virginia Students and Schools?

Blended learning – personalizing education by fully integrating technology into classroom instruction – is registering powerful academic results around the country. Increasingly, an innovation that began in pioneering public charter schools is changing the ways traditional school districts teach students.

In its 2012 federal Race to the Top District grant application, the City School District of Middletown, New York (6 schools, 6,000 students) articulated a vision – providing an innovative, student-controlled learning environment for all students, one that builds on its highly collaborative staff, and addresses low reading comprehension across all grades.

And, it won … $20 million. This year, several Virginia school divisions submitted applications committing to emphasize personalized education for all students.

School districts with groundbreaking blended learning projects underway nationwide include Miami-Dade County (Florida), Oakland (CA) USD, the Pennsylvania Hybrid Learning Initiative, and a first-ever fully districtwide blended program in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

To help plan, design, and implement its vision across six schools over four years, Middletown engaged Education Elements, one of the nation’s most accomplished specialists in blended learning. The Middletown program allows teachers to opt-in to the difficult work of shifting their instructional practice from a teacher-controlled model to a student-controlled blended model – one that integrates technology fully into instruction to make frequent use of small groups, student performance data to drive instructional decisions, and integrated digital content.

You’re invited to hear their story. Our special guest is Anthony Kim, CEO and founder of Education Elements. A seasoned education technology entrepreneur, Mr. Kim also founded and led Provost Systems, a provider of software and services for operating online schools to support innovation in instructional delivery and instructional technology. After selling Provost Systems to EdisonLearning (formerly Edison Schools) in 2008, Mr. Kim served as Executive Vice President of Online at EdisonLearning until 2010, building out its newly formed online business unit. Mr. Kim graduated from Cornell University and has served as an advisor to several software companies.

You can register today by clicking here or contacting Constance Baroudos at baroudos@lexingtoninstitute.org