NEW
ORLEANS, LA, Tuesday, September
11, 2012 –
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is releasing a series of case studies
that examine five school and charter management operators’ implementation of
blended learning.
As the education reform landscape
evolves, blended learning is becoming more and more relevant to schools across
the country. “Blending learning has the potential to support teachers in
delivering individualized instruction to students by combining traditional
face-to-face classroom methods with computer-based activities,” according to
Cheryl Niehaus, program officer at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
“These case studies can serve as an information source for schools that are
interested in learning more about this type of blended learning model.”
Five charter management
organizations across the nation participated in the case studies: Alliance for
College-Ready Public Schools, Firstline Schools, KIPP LA, Rocketship Education,
and Summit Public Schools. The studies examine each organization's
instructional and operational approaches to blended learning, and offer a
high-level overview of each model's potential financial implications. They also
look at a number of other factors, including how each school chose its method
of blended learning, and the major success factors and lessons learned from
each implementation.
There are many different approaches
to blended learning, and it can take on many shapes or forms, depending on the
teachers and students involved. The schools that participated in these studies
each utilize what is known as a “classroom rotation” or “station rotation”
model of blended learning.
In the coming months, the
foundation will also release a quantitative impact evaluation of the schools’
impact on students. “As there is still much to learn about the potential for
blended learning models to improve outcomes for students,” said Niehaus, “I am
also excited for the second part of this project, which includes an impact
evaluation of these same schools during the 2011-12 school year.”
The foundation commissioned SRI
International to conduct a one-year, quasi-experimental evaluation of these
schools’ impact on students' learning. After the evaluation period, the
foundation retained FSG to prepare the case studies about
each of their models so that the learnings could be shared with the public.
The case study introduction, along
with the case study on KIPP Empower Academy, is now available at www.msdf.org/blendedlearning. In
addition, a series of blog posts from the five operators and the authors has
begun on the foundation’s blog, www.blog.msdf.org.
To be notified when the other four case studies are released and when the
related blogs are posted, please follow the foundation on Twitter at
@msdf_foundation.
About the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
The Michael & Susan Dell
Foundation (www.msdf.org) is dedicated to improving the lives of children
living in urban poverty around the world. With offices in Austin, TX and New
Delhi, India, and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell family foundation funds
programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood health, and improve the economic stability of families living
in poverty. The foundation has committed more than
$825 million to global children’s issues and community initiatives to
date.
FirstLine Schools
The
mission of FirstLine Schools is to create and inspire great open enrollment
public schools in New Orleans. FirstLine currently operates Samuel J.
Green Charter School, Arthur Ashe Charter School, John Dibert Community School,
Langston Hughes Academy, and Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School. For
more information please visit www.firstlineschools.org.
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