Will U.S. education policies advance or throttle online learning?

Tyson Eberhardt / April 25, 2012

Today Fordham is releasing a new volume explaining how the U.S. education system must change in order to realize the potential of digital learning. Education Reform for the Digital Era argues that major overhauls of school finance, governance, and accountability are needed if on-line education is to live up to its potential.

The policy blunders that hamstrung the charter-school movement as it grew can be avoided this time if policymakers and education leaders demonstrate foresight and boldness now. To do so, explain editors Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Daniela Fairchild, those leaders must overcome entrenched interests, public education’s resistance to change, and the system’s basic structures for financing and governing.

The new book provides estimates of the costs—and savings—for online learning models, as well as targeted chapters on how to overhaul a system that has been leapfrogged by advances in technology. These address:

• “Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction,” by Bryan C. and Emily Ayscue Hassel;
• "Quality Control in K-12 Digital Learning: Three (Imperfect) Solutions," by Frederick M. Hess;
• "The Costs of Online Learning," Tamara Butler Battaglino, Matt Haldeman, and Eleanor Laurans;
• "School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era," by Paul T. Hill; and
• "Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning," by John E. Chubb.

Download the full volume (as a pdf or ebook) to learn more.

Category: Digital Learning