Searching for "game"

GradeCraft

University of Michigan Commercializes Gameful Learning Tool

By Rhea Kelly 06/20/17

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/06/20/university-of-michigan-commercializes-gameful-learning-tool.aspx

GradeCraft, the software uses gaming elements such as competition, badges and unlocks to help students progress through their courses.

GradeCraft was co-developed in 2012 by Barry Fishman, professor at the University of Michigan’s Schools of Information and Education, and Caitlin Holman, doctoral candidate in the School of Information and lead software developer at Office of Academic Innovation‘s Digital Innovation Greenhouse. The project was recognized with a Campus Technology Innovators award in 2016.

The University of Arizona has become one of the first universities to purchase a site license for GradeCraft.

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more on gamification in education in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=gamification

asynch and LMS online

Asynch Delivery and the LMS Still Dominate for Online Programs

By Dian Schaffhauser  05/22/17

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/05/22/asynch-delivery-and-the-lms-still-dominate-for-online-programs.aspx

a recent research project  by Quality Matters and Eduventures, the “Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE)” offers a “baseline” examination of program development, quality measures and other structural issues.

95 percent of larger programs (those with 2,500 or more online program students) are “wholly asynchronous” while 1.5 percent are mainly or completely synchronous. About three-quarters (73 percent) of mid-sized programs (schools with between 500 and 2,499 online program students) and 62 percent of smaller programs are fully asynchronous.

The asynchronous nature of this kind of education may explain why threaded discussions turned up as the most commonly named teaching and learning technique, mentioned by 27.4 percent of respondents, closely followed by practice-based learning, listed by 27.3 percent of survey participants.

Blackboard and Instructure Canvas dominated. Audio- and videoconferencing come in a “distant second,” according to the researchers. The primary brands that surfaced for those functions were Adobe Connect, Cisco WebEx, Zoom, Kaltura, Panopto, TechSmith Camtasia and Echo360.

While the LMS plays a significant role in online programming, the report pointed to a distinct lack of references to “much-hyped innovations,” such as adaptive learning, competency-based education systems, simulation or game-based learning tools. (my note: my mouth run dry of repeating every time people start becoming orgasmic about LMS, D2L in particular)

four in 10 require the use of instructional design support, three in 10 use a team approach for online course design and one in 10 outsources the work. Overall, some 80 percent of larger programs use instructional design expertise.

In the smallest programs, instructional design support is treated as a “faculty option” for 53 percent of institutions. Another 18 percent expect faculty to develop their online courses independently. For 13 percent of mid-sized programs, the faculty do their development work independently; another 64 percent may choose whether or not to bring in instructional design help. (my note: this is the SCSU ‘case’)

Measuring Quality

Among the many possible quality metrics suggested by the researchers, the five adopted most frequently for internal monitoring were:

  • Student achievement of program objectives (83 percent);
  • Student retention and graduation rates (77 percent);
  • Program reputation (48 percent);
  • Faculty training (47 percent); and
  • Student engagement measures (41 percent).

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https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=online+learning

VR trends

6 VR Trends to Watch in Education

By Sri Ravipati  05/16/17

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/05/16/6-vr-trends-to-watch-in-education.aspx

VR devices are expected to increase 85 percent by 2020, with gaming and educational applications driving most of that growth.

Maya Georgieva, an ed tech strategist, author and speaker with more than 15 years of experience in higher education and global education. Georgieva is co-founder of Digital Bodies, a consulting group that provides news and analysis of VR, AR and wearables in education

Emory Craig,  currently the director of e-learning at the College of New Rochelle,

six areas with promising developments for educators.

1) More Affordable Headsets

the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, which I really like, you’re talking close to $2,000 per setup. the 2017 SXSWedu conference,

Microsoft has been collaborating with its partners, such as HP, Acer, Dell and Lenovo, to develop VR headsets that will work with lower-end desktops. Later this year, the companies will debut headsets for $299, “which is much more affordable compared to HoloLens

many Kickstarter crowdfunding efforts are bound to make high-end headsets more accessible for teaching.

the NOLO project. The NOLO system is meant for mobile VR headsets and gives users that “6 degrees of freedom” (or 6 DoF) motion tracking that is currently only found in high-end headsets.

2) Hand Controllers That Will Bring Increased Interactivity

Google Daydream  Samsung has also implemented its own hand controller for Gear VR

Microsoft  new motion controllers at Microsoft Build

zSpace, with their stylus and AR glasses, continue to develop their immersive applications

3) Easy-to-Use Content Creation Platforms

Game engines like Unity and Unreal are often a starting point for creating simulations.

Labster, which creates virtual chemistry labs — will become important in specialized subjects

ThingLink, for example, recently introduced a school-specific editor for creating 360-degree and VR content. Lifeliqe, Aurasma and Adobe are also working on more interactive tools.

5) 360-Degree Cameras

6) Social VR Spaces

AltspaceVR h uses avatars and supports multiplayer sessions that allow for socialization and user interaction.

Facebook has been continuing to develop its own VR platform, Facebook Spaces, which is in beta and will be out later this year. LectureVR is a similar platform on the horizon.

 

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more on augmented reality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=augmented

history Becker

Digital Literacy and History

Plamen Miltenoff – http://web.stcloudstate.edu/pmiltenoff/faculty/
with Heather Abrahamson, Becker High School Social Studies, 763-261-4501 (Ext. 3507)
9:50-11:15; 11:20-11:45;  12:20-1:20 |
link to this blog entry: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/05/01/history-becker/
short link – http://bit.ly/histbecker

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list of web sites with images for the students’ projects:

  • Holocaust

https://www.ushmm.org/collections/the-museums-collections/about/photo-archives

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/holocaust-photographs

https://go.fold3.com/holocaust_records/

https://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/Photographs

https://www.thoughtco.com/large-collection-of-holocaust-pictures-1779703

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/resource_center/item.asp?gate=4-2

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust/pictures/holocaust-concentration-camps/poland-auschwitz-birkenau-death-camp

  • Cold War

http://www.gettyimages.com/photos/cold-war

http://www.coldwar.org/museum/photo_gallery.asp

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/04/world/gallery/cold-war-history/

http://time.com/3879870/berlin-wall-photos-early-days-cold-war-symbol/

http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/theme/cold-war-history

http://archive.millercenter.org/academic/dgs/primaryresources/cold_war

  • others

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

http://www.gettyimages.com/editorialimages/archival

https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/photography.html

 

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Defining my interests. Narrowing a topic. How do I collect information? How do I search for information?

How do we search for “serious” information?

https://www.google.com/; https://scholar.google.com/ (3 min); http://academic.research.microsoft.com/http://www.dialog.com/http://www.quetzal-search.infohttp://www.arXiv.orghttp://www.journalogy.com/ 
  • Digg, Reddit , Quora, Medium,
http://digg.com/, https://www.reddit.com/, https://www.quora.com/ StackExchange http://stackexchange.com/Kngine.com; AskScience https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/, ,  and similar, https://medium.com/ (5 min)
YouTube, SlideShare https://www.slideshare.net/  and similar https://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=modern+history
  • Professional organization and social media
(10 min)
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_history
blogs, listservs http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/100-awesome-blogs-for-history-junkies/
Facebook  history
Twitter  twitter
LinkedIn Groups https://www.linkedin.com/groups/my-groups  
team work using your social media accounts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), search for information related to your topic of interest (5 min)

  • Other search engines
https://www.semanticscholar.org/
  • University Library Search
(20 min)
every university library has subject guides for different disciplines. here are the ones from SCSU http://stcloud.lib.mnscu.edu/subjects/guide.php?subject=HIST-WOR Kahoot game (5 min)
basic electronic (library) search information and strategies. Library research services (5 min)

using the library database, do a search on a topic of your interest.

compare the returns on your search. make an attempt to refine the search.

retrieve the following information about the book of interest: is it relevant to your topic (check the subjects); is it timely (check the published date); is it available

 books
Strategies for conducting advanced searches (setting up filters and search criteria)
Articles and databases (10 min)  
Kahoot competition use your smart phones to find the best researcher among you
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/c376c27a-d39a-4825-8541-1c1ae728e1bc
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/5e6d126f-be4d-47d0-9b6e-dfc3f2c90e61
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/89706729-3663-4ec3-a351-173bf1bf4ed7history:
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/7510e6d8-170f-4c0c-b7bd-6d7dd60c3f6e
Reference and Facts
Streaming and Video http://www.stcloudstate.edu/library/research/video.aspx
Journal Title and Citation Finder
shall more info be needed and or “proper” session with a reference librarian be requested http://stcloud.lib.mnscu.edu/subjects/guide.php?subject=EDAD-D
Institutional Repository http://repository.stcloudstate.edu/
  • additional academic resources
Academic.com and ResearchGate

academia


  • VR tour SCSU library
http://bit.ly/360lib and http://bit.ly/360lib2;  http://bit.ly/VRlib (15 min)

  • bibliographic tools
Refworks https://www.refworks.com/refworks2/default.aspx?r=authentication::init&
Zotero, Mendeley, Endnote
Fast and easy bibliographic tools: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/12/06/bibliographic-tools-fast-and-easy/
 Primary and secondary sources video

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more on history in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=history

Save

Save

transmedia storytelling

from https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/04/20/serious-play-conference-2017/

Ben Ward, Kansas State University
Transmedia, unicorns, and marketing, oh my!: The not-quite epic failure of transmedia design efforts in Oz.

Transmedia storytelling, also called Alternate Reality Games, have been designed to intrigue, engage, and even engineer groups of people since the release of The Beast in 2001. A few colleges and Universities have employed them to engage their student populations and even teach them a thing or two using narrative game mechanics. Presenters will chronicle a highly successful transmedia design effort at Kansas State University, and the subsequent annual efforts to replicate the engagement and enthusiasm. Best practices and not-quite epic failures will be discussed, as will tips (and laments) for marketing to our current student populations.

http://www.tstoryteller.com/transmedia-storytelling
Remove term: transmedia storytelling transmedia storytelling

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more on digital storytelling in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=digital+storytelling

Serious Play Conference 2017

Serious Play Conference

2017 Conference Program

Ben Ward, Kansas State University
Joelle Pitts, Instructional Design Librarian and Associate Professor, Kansas State University Libraries
Stefan Yates, Instructional Design Librarian and Associate Professor, Kansas State University

Transmedia, unicorns, and marketing, oh my!: The not-quite epic failure of transmedia design efforts in Oz.

Transmedia storytelling, also called Alternate Reality Games, have been designed to intrigue, engage, and even engineer groups of people since the release of The Beast in 2001. A few colleges and Universities have employed them to engage their student populations and even teach them a thing or two using narrative game mechanics. Presenters will chronicle a highly successful transmedia design effort at Kansas State University, and the subsequent annual efforts to replicate the engagement and enthusiasm. Best practices and not-quite epic failures will be discussed, as will tips (and laments) for marketing to our current student populations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmedia_storytelling

http://www.tstoryteller.com/transmedia-storytelling

http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html

http://athinklab.com/transmedia-storytelling/what-is-transmedia-storytelling/

Transmedia Storytelling: The Complete Guide

What is Transmedia Storytelling?

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/401760/transmedia-storytelling/

http://nerdist.com/a-look-at-transmedia-storytelling/

Glenn Larsen, National Science Foundation
SBIR and Other Funding Sources for Your Game

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards nearly $190 million annually to startups and small businesses through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. The equity-free funds support research and development (R&D) across almost all areas of science and technology helping companies de-risk technology for commercial success. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $7 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. For more information, visit http://www.nsf.gov/SBIR.

Karen Schrier, Assistant Professor/Director of Games and Emerging Media, Marist College
Design Principles for Knowledge Games

Lisa Castaneda, CEO, foundry10|
Mark Suter, Teacher, Bernards Township Schools

How Teachers Can Use VR in the Classroom: Beyond the Novelty

Over the past three years, foundry10, an education research organization, has been studying the potential of Virtual Reality in Education. The research has focused on the implementation, immersion dynamics, and integration of content across the curriculum.

Working with a variety of classroom curricular areas, with students and teachers from 30 schools, we have gathered data as well as anecdotal stories to help illustrate how VR functions in a learning environment. Students from all over the US, Canada and parts of Europe, completed pre/post surveys and educators participated in extensive qualitative interviews in order to better understand what it means to learn with virtual reality.

Please join foundry10 CEO Lisa Castaneda and teachers Steve Isaacs and Mark Suter as we share what we have learned about how to effectively utilize VR for classroom learning through content creation (both inside and outside of the virtual world), content consumption and content integration and overcoming the obstacles inherent in implementation.

Lisa Castaneda, Steven Isaacs & Mark Suter – Virtual Reality in Education: Exploring the New Frontier from SeriousGamesAssoc

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more on gaming in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=gaming

apps for special needs students

Android

Categories
Apps
Android Apps for Learners with Autism
Android Apps for Learners with Dyslexia
Android Apps for Vision Impaired

iOS

Categories
Apps
Apps for Dyslexic Learners
Apps for Autistic Learners
Apps for The Visually Impaired
Apps for Learners with Writing Difficulties

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more on special ed in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=special+education

apester

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compare Apester (https://app.apester.com/) to Kahoot (https://getkahoot.com/) and EdPuzzle (https://edpuzzle.com/)


(EdPuzzle needs an account)

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/21379a63-b67c-4897-a2cd-66e7d1c83027
(you need to let me know, if you want to test it, since Kahoot is ONLY synchronous)

Apеster (https://app.apester.com/): can be played asynchronously (yet, restricted in time). Kahoot is a simultaneous game. EdPuzzle also lke Apester can be asynchronous, but like Kahoot requires an account, whereas Apester can be played by anyone.

Apester (https://app.apester.com/video is NOT working yet. Kahoot has a nice feature for a video intro and video response. Apester (https://app.apester.com/) Embed is working, but link sharing is NOT WORKING.

Both Apester and Kahoot are mobile devices compatible.

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more on presentation tools in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=effective+presentations

use of laptops phones in the classroom

Why I’m Asking You Not to / Use Laptops

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https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2019/08/27/reading-teenagers-electronic-devices/

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-03-06-move-over-laptop-ban-this-professor-teaches-a-5-hour-tech-less-reading-class

research showing how laptops can be more of a distraction than a learning enabler. Purdue University even started blocking streaming websites such as Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Pandora.

But others say banning laptops can be counterproductive, arguing these devices can create opportunity for students to discover more information during class or collaborate. And that certain tools and technologies are necessary for learners who struggle in a traditional lecture format.

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Supiano, B. (2019, April 7). Digital Distraction Is a Problem Far Beyond the Classroom. But Professors Can Still Help. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Digital-Distraction-Is-a/246074
Flanigan, who studies self-regulation, or the processes students use to achieve their learning goals, began researching digital distraction after confronting it in the classroom as a graduate instructor.
Digital distraction tempts all of us, almost everywhere. That’s the premise of Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University.

The professor is upset. The professor has taken action, by banning laptops.
Bruff, whose next book, Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching, is set to be published this fall, is among the experts who think that’s a mistake. Why? Well, for one thing, he said, students are “going to have to graduate and get jobs and use laptops without being on Facebook all day.” The classroom should help prepare them for that.

 When Volk teaches a course with 50 or 60 students, he said, “the idea is to keep them moving.”Shifting the focal point away from the professor can help, too. “If they are in a small group with their colleagues,” Volk said, “very rarely will I see them on their laptops doing things they shouldn’t be.”
Professors may not see themselves as performers, but if they can’t get students’ attention, nothing else they do matters. “Learning doesn’t happen without attention,” said Lang, who is writing a book about digital distraction, Teaching Distracted Minds.
One aspect of distraction Lang plans to cover in his book is its history. It’s possible, he said, to regard our smartphones as either too similar or dissimilar from the distractions of the past. And it’s important, he said, to remember how new this technology really is, and how much we still don’t know about it.
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Study: Use of digital devices in class affects students’ long-term retention of information

  • A new study conducted by researchers at Rutgers University reveals that students who are distracted by texts, games, or videos while taking lecture notes on digital devices are far more likely to have their long-term memory affected and to perform more poorly on exams, even if short-term memory is not impacted, EdSurge reports.
  • Exam performance was not only poorer for students using the devices, but also for other students in classes that permitted the devices because of the distraction factor, the study found.
  • After conducting the study, Arnold Glass, the lead researcher, changed his own policy and no longer allows his students to take notes on digital devices.
A nationally representative Gallup poll conducted in March showed that 42% of K-12 teachers feel that the use of digital devices in the classroom are “mostly helpful” for students, while only 28% feel they are “mostly harmful.” Yet 69% of those same teachers feel the devices have a harmful impact on student mental health and 55% feel they negatively affect student physical health.
 According to a 2016 study of college students, student waste about 20% of their class time for “non-class” purposes — texting, emailing, or using social media more than 11 times in a typical day. In K-12, increased dependence on digital devices often interferes with homework completion as well.
Though the new study focused on long-term retention, past studies have also shown that indicate a negative correlation between use of digital devices during class and exam scores. A 2015 study by the London School of Economics revealed that pupils in schools that banned cell phones performed better on exams and that the differences were most notable for low-performing students.
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By Jack Grove Twitter: @jgro_the  April 4, 2017

Using laptops in class harms academic performance, study warns. Researchers say students who use computers score half a grade lower than those who write notes

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/using-laptops-in-class-harms-academic-performance-study-warns

findings, published in the journal Economics of Education Review in a paper, based on an analysis of the grades of about 5,600 students at a private US liberal arts college, found that using a laptop appeared to harm the grades of male and low-performing students most significantly.

While the authors were unable to definitively say why laptop use caused a “significant negative effect in grades”, the authors believe that classroom “cyber-slacking” plays a major role in lower achievement, with wi-fi-enabled computers providing numerous distractions for students.

April 07, 2006

A Law Professor Bans Laptops From the Classroom

http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Law-Professor-Bans-Laptops/29048

by

Classroom Confrontation Over Student’s Laptop Use Leads to Professor’s Arrest

June 02, 2006

The Fight for Classroom Attention: Professor vs. Laptop

Some instructors ban computers or shut off Internet access, bringing complaints from students http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Fight-for-Classroom/19431

Classroom Confrontation Over Student’s Laptop Use Leads to Professor’s Arrest

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/classroom-confrontation-over-students-laptop-use-leads-to-professors-arrest/31832

by Anne Curzahttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2014/08/25/why-im-asking-you-not-to-use-laptops/

Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512002254

March 13, 2017

The Distracted Classroom

http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Distracted-Classroom/239446

Welcome, Freshmen. Look at Me When I Talk to You.

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Welcome-Freshmen-Look-at-Me/237751

October 28, 2015

Memorization, Cheating, and Technology. What can we do to stem the increased use of phones and laptops to cheat on exams in class?

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Memorization-Cheating-and/233926

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intrinsic motivation:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2019/11/13/intrinsic-motivation-digital-distractions/

The learning experience is different in schools that assign laptops, a survey finds

The learning experience is different in schools that assign laptops, a survey finds

High schoolers assigned a laptop or a Chromebook were more likely to take notes in class, do internet research, create documents to share, collaborate with their peers on projects, check their grades and get reminders about tests or homework due dates.

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https://teacheveryday.com/cellphones-in-the-classroom/

Blended Learning – the idea of incorporating technology into the every day experience of education – can save time, raise engagement, and increase student retention.

Lets face it, our students are addicted to their phones. Like…drugs addicted. It is not just a bad habit, it is hard wired in their brains(literally) to have the constant stimulation of their phones.

If you are interested in the research, there is a lot out there to read about how it happens and how bad it is.

Scientific American article published about a recent study of nomophobia – on adults (yes, many of us are addicted too).

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by

Best Practices for Laptops in the Classroom

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/best-practices-for-laptops-in-the-classroom/39064

September 11, 2016

No, Banning Laptops Is Not the Answer. And it’s just as pointless to condemn any ban on electronic devices in the classroom

http://www.chronicle.com/article/No-Banning-Laptops-Is-Not-the/237752

by

Don’t Ban Laptops in the Classroom

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/09/23/dont-ban-laptops-in-the-classroom/

Use of Laptops in the Classroom: Research and Best Practices. Tomorrow’s Teaching and Learning

https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1157

By

On Not Banning Laptops in the Classroom

http://techist.mcclurken.org/learning/on-not-banning-laptops-in-the-classroom/

+++++++++++++   neutral / observation +++++++++++++++

F January 26, 2001

Colleges Differ on Costs and Benefits of ‘Ubiquitous’ Computing

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Differ-on-Costs-and/17848

“Bring Your Own Device” Policies?

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/bring-your-own-device-policies/42732

June 13, 2014, 2:40 pm By Robert Talbert

Three issues with the case for banning laptops

http://www.chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2014/06/13/three-issues-with-the-case-for-banning-laptops/

3 Tips for Managing Phone Use in Class

Setting cell phone expectations early is key to accessing the learning potential of these devices and minimizing the distraction factor.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-tips-managing-phone-use-class

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more on mobile learning in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=mobile+learning

Alternative Education

‘Alternative’ Education: Using Charter Schools to Hide Dropouts and Game the System

School officials nationwide dodge accountability ratings by steering low achievers to alternative programs. In Orlando, Florida, the nation’s tenth-largest district, thousands of students who leave alternative charters run by a for-profit company aren’t counted as dropouts.

This story was co-published with USA Today.

https://www.propublica.org/article/alternative-education-using-charter-schools-hide-dropouts-and-game-system

Accelerated Learning Solutions (ALS), a more than $1.5 million-a-year “management fee,” 2015 financial records show — more than what the school spends on instruction.

alternative schools at times become warehouses where regular schools stow poor performers to avoid being held accountable.

Concerns that schools artificially boosted test scores by dumping low achievers into alternative programs have surfaced in connection with ongoing litigation in Louisiana and Pennsylvania, and echo findings from a legislative report a decade ago in California. The phenomenon is borne out by national data: While the number of students in alternative schools grew moderately over the past 15 years, upticks occurred as new national mandates kicked in on standardized testing and graduation rates.

The role of charter alternative schools like Sunshine — publicly funded but managed by for-profit companies — is likely to grow under the new U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, an ardent supporter of school choice. In her home state of Michigan, charter schools have been responsible in part for a steep rise in the alternative school population. She recently portrayed Florida as a national model for charters and choice.

No Child Left Behind was supposed to improve educational outcomes for students long overlooked — including those who were black, Hispanic and low-income.

Nationwide, nearly a third of the alternative-school population attends a school that spends at least $500 less per pupil than regular schools do in the same district. Forty percent of school districts with alternative schools provide counseling services only in regular schools. Charter alternative schools — both virtual and bricks-and-mortar — in Ohio, Georgia and Florida have been accused of collecting public money for students who weren’t in classes.

Orlando schools are not unique in using alternative programs to remove struggling students from traditional classrooms. As far back as 2007, a legislative report in California warned that the state’s accountability system allowed traditional schools to shirk responsibility for low-performing students by referring them to alternative schools. The state is currently reviewing its standards for alternative schools.

Companies running schools in this niche often save costs by relying on computer programs that reduce the need for credentialed teachers. The market can be lucrative: As enrollment grew, ALS’ management fees from the schools it operates in Orange County more than doubled from $2.5 million in the 2012 school year to $5.4 million in 2015. The company says the fees pay for back-office services, such as human resources, as well as school-based support for areas such as curriculum, reading, math, security, and professional development.

The company’s affiliate — the controversial Nashville-based Community Education Partners, or CEP — contracted with school districts to serve students with behavior problems. The company, founded by a lawyer and Republican Party operative named Randle Richardson, ran schools for students who had committed disciplinary violations in cities such as Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston and Orlando for more than a decade. Critics called CEP’s schools prison-like and dangerous, and charged that their academics were sub-par.

 

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more on charter schools in this blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=charter+schools

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