This document discusses six leading edges of innovation in K-12 education: 1) Changing perspectives on thinking and blending approaches, 2) Globalizing and expanding the curriculum, 3) Leveraging technology like 1-to-1 devices and online learning, 4) Rethinking time and place of learning beyond the classroom, 5) Increased co-teaching between educators, parents, and experts, and 6) Empowering today's digital native youth as partners in education reform. The author argues that making school more reflective of real life experiences can drive educational innovation.

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Education Nation:
Six Leading Edges of Innovation
in our Schools
Global Education Conference
November 19, 2010
Milton Chen, PhD
Senior Fellow
George Lucas Educational Foundation
milton.chen@edutopia.org

2. Imagine an Education Nation:
A learning society where education of
children is the highest priority, equal to a
strong economy, high employment, and
national security, which rely on education.
A “ladder of learning” from pre-K through
“gray” blending formal and informal
learning through schools, technology,
museums, libraries, churches, youth
groups, and parks. 2

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5. The U. S. an Education Nation?
• Of 50 1st-grade students behind in reading,
44 still behind in 4th-grade
• A HS student drops out every 26 seconds,
6,000 each day (Tough Choices or Tough Times, 2006)
• CA students 1 year behind U. S. average, 2- 3 years
behind best states (NAEP 2007, 8th-gr. math)
• Closing the gap could contribute $2 trillion per year
in GDP (McKinsey & Co., 2010)
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6. Innovation: The Key to Creating an
Education Nation
A “Must Do” Rather than “Nice to
Know”
Internet Time: Google 12 Years,
YouTube 5 Years
Every Minute, 24 Hours of New Video
on YouTube
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8. What is the Key to Educational Innovation?
It’s Simple: School Life = Real Life
“From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in
the school comes from his inability to utilize the
experiences he gets outside the school…within the
school itself while, on the other hand, he is unable to
apply in daily life what he is learning at school.”
John Dewey, The School and Society lecture,
University of Chicago, 1899
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6 Leading Edges of K-12 Innovation
1. Thinking
2. Curriculum & Assessment
3. Technology
4. Time/Place
5. Co-Teaching
6. Youth

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1.The Edge of Our Thinking:
Ending the Education Wars
From Either/Or to Both/And Hybrids
• Phonics + Whole Language
• Arts + Core Curriculum
Opening Minds Through Arts (OMA), Tucson
www.edutopia.org/arts-opening-minds-integration
• Learning in Nature + Technology

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2. The Curriculum Edge
• Social/Emotional Learning
• Globalizing the Curriculum
• Bilingual Education for All

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3. The Technology Edge
• Weapons of Mass Instruction, 1:1
www.edutopia.org/maine-project-learning-schools-that-work
• iPod, iListen, iRead
sites.google.com/a/eusd.org/eusd-iread/
• Online Learning
www.edutopia.org/stw-online-learning-new-breakthroughs
• Wiki-Based 8th-Gr. US History
• Intelligent Text
• Assistive Tech/Universal Design
• Serious Games

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4. The Time/Place Edge
• Schools as “Prisoners of Time”
www2.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/Prisoners.html
• A New Day for Learning, Beyond
the Bell
www.newdayforlearning.org
www.edutopia.org/new-day-for-learning
• School Gardens
• Place-Based Learning: Museums,
Parks

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5. The Teaching Edge: Co-Teaching
• Parents as Co-Educators
• Linking Home & School
• Experts as Co-Educators
Aviation HS, Seattle, Boeing

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6. The Greatest Edge: Today’s Youth
• 95% of Stakeholders
• Digital Learners Carrying Change
in their Pockets
• Generation YES: Students as
Teaching Assistants (genyes.org)
• Edutopia’s Digital Generation
www.edutopia.org/digital-generation

24. edutopia.org/digital-generation

25. edutopia.org/digital-generation

26. edutopia.org/digital-generation