Have you heard this lately? Future Ready is a term used by a partnership between the US Department of Education and the Alliance for Excellent Education. It aims to ensure at least 99% of U.S. students have access to high-speed Internet in their schools in the next five years. That’s pretty ambitious considering 70% don’t have the bandwidth right now.
Superintendents around the country are taking this pledge as a commitment to the effort.
My take? I say kudos, this is great. I worry about the digital divide between the rich and the poor. And this program has a component that includes parents and tries to promote Internet access at home as well as school.
At the same time, we have to be careful not to conflate the needs of the future with technological savvy. Tech is one amazing and necessary aspect of future ready, but it’s not the only one.
Luckily there are other groups such as 4.0 Schools, New Schools Venture Fund, EdSurge and Next Generation Learning Challenges that are promoting whole school re-design to transform teaching and learning.
Are you one of us who wants to dramatically change the way we educate young people? Join us as an Ed2Save Fellow or for our Change Leadership Retreat this summer!