Hack Education

This article first appeared on Points, a Data & Society publication in February 2017 That inBloom might exist as a cautionary tale in the annals of ed-tech is rather remarkable, if for no other reason than ed-tech – at least its manifestation as a current blend of venture capital exuberance,...

Education Politics As if applying for financial aid wasn’t difficult enough already, it appears that the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, which pulls tax information into the FAFSA app, “will be unavailable for several weeks.” Great timing, IRS. Via The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Congress, in an effort to limit federal...

While much of the speculation about the future of education technology under President Trump has been focused on the new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (her investment in various ed-tech companies, her support for vouchers and charter schools), it’s probably worth remembering that the Department of Education is hardly the...

Education Politics President Trump gave a not-the-State-of-the-Union address to Congress on Tuesday. Details about the education-related elements of his speech from NPR, The New York Times, Education Week, and The Washington Post. Via The New York Times: “For Trump and DeVos, a Florida Private School Is a Model for Choice.”...

I have updated my Ed-Tech Funding project with the dollars and deals from February. This past month, ed-tech startups raised $566,950,000. But there’s an asterisk by that figure as it includes $500,000,000 raised by one company, student loan provider SoFi – money that SoFi says it plans to use to...

Education Politics Via The New York Times: “President Trump on Wednesday rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, overruling his own education secretary and placing his administration firmly in the middle of the culture wars that many Republicans have tried...

This article first appeared in the Data & Society publication Points in September 2016. It’s a response, in part, to the organization’s primer on accountability in education: “The Myth of Accountability: How Data (Mis)Use is Reinforcing the Problems of Public Education.” To be accountable is to be answerable; to be...

Education Politics “How higher education made President Trump,” according to Jeffrey Selingo. Via Fusion: “ICE detained close to 700 immigrants in a five-day nationwide raid.” Via Education Week: “Undocumented Teachers Shielded by DACA in Legal and Emotional Limbo.” Via Reuters: “Mexican ‘DREAMer’ nabbed in immigrant crackdown.” Via Buzzfeed: “A DREAMer...

The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative have released the latest NMC Horizon Report for Higher Education. I have written quite a bit about the problems (as I see them) with the Horizon Report, most recently in a talk I gave last fall at VCU: “The Best Way...

Education Politics Betsy DeVos has been confirmed as the Secretary of Education – the first time that a Vice President has had to break a tie in the Senate for this sort of vote. Her confirmation comes despite Democrats’ opposition and an incredible volume of calls and letters from constituents...