“Master’s of None,” by Grace Gedye in Washington Monthly

“Some teachers bluntly told me their degrees were a waste of time—a surprising admission given the strong human impulse to attribute value to whatever you’ve already spent a lot of money on. The problem is that education master’s programs generally don’t produce better teachers. While programs vary greatly, and some stand above the rest, the teachers I interviewed told me that they had spent too much time on theory and not enough on practical teaching skills; professors were too far removed from the classroom and using out-of-date pedagogy; and many programs simply weren’t rigorous. Decades of research back up their critiques.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

School leaders should think long and hard about encouraging graduate degrees in education. At stake are multiple resources: the school’s money, the teacher’s time, the teacher’s attention, and the teacher’s energy.

Personalized professional development opportunities may not culminate in a credential, yet may be far more effective for a teacher’s practice. For starters, consider programs and services offered by Leadership+Design. Without experiencing L+D’s design thinking bootcamp, I would never have been able to conceive the social entrepreneurship class that started at Malvern Prep and that evolved into Expeditionaries.

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“Time for Transparency: Exploring and Announcing a Tuition Reset,” by Christopher Brueningsen in NAIS Independent Ideas Blog

“According to a 2018 Sallie Mae report, 65% of students eliminate colleges in their selection process based on published tuition price without any further research. In recent years, a growing number of colleges have addressed soaring educational prices with an innovative strategy. It’s called a ‘tuition reset.’ The concept is simple in theory: Reduce tuition significantly and make up the lost revenue by growing enrollment and decreasing financial aid costs. Since 2010, dozens of colleges have executed tuition resets, according to information from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Consider the math for a prospective parent with two children ages 6 and 4. They are researching Independent School X, whose annual tuition is $25,000.

• Tuition for the 6-year old: $25,000 x 12 years = $300,000 [This assumes, absurdly, no tuition increase over 12 years.]

• Tuition for the 4-year old: $25,000 x 14 years = $350,000

• College for the 6-year old: $37,000 x 4 years = $144,000 [This also assumed, absurdly, that college tution will cost the same in 2031 that it cost in 2019]

• College for the 4-year old: $37,000 x 4 years = $144,000

• Total education costs: $988,000 [assuming no tuition increases for 14 years!]

If 65% of students “eliminate college in their selection process based on published tuition price without any further research,” it’s not hard to imagine that at least that many parents are doing the same thing with K12 independent school.

This article is interesting primarily for its discussion of what happens after a school pursues a tuition reset. Whether or not you’re fully enrolled, it’s worth reading.

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“Designing a School Around Project-Based Learning,” by Kate Stringer, on The 74 Million

“At the Portfolio School, students work on big group projects assigned by their teacher as well as personal passion projects. The projects range from learning how to make ice cream to creating papier-mâché characters to understand identity. While the projects align with a theme the school leaders select, they vary in complexity by the age group that is working on them.

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

While new school models have been emerging for several years, and while project-based learning has been around for several years, a new school model organized around project-based learning is a relatively new concept. (High Tech High, which is 20 years old, is the exception that proves the rule.) Keep an eye on this new addition to the Education Innovation Hype Cycle.

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Question of the week:

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