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The field of education is constantly innovating as schools across the country search for the best ways to improve learning for each student. On the TLA Blog, The Learning Accelerator team and guest experts investigate and help you navigate the latest research, commentary, and useful tools to push the field forward.
Ensuring Quality EdTech Investments: Two Questions For System Leaders
by Michael Ham on February 23 2024
September marks a turning point for the K-12 sector. Since March 2020, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund has infused billions of dollars into school systems to aid pandemic recovery efforts designed to accelerate...
Catalyzing Collective Change Toward More Equitable Edtech Systems
by Michael Ham on November 17 2023
Edtech can be a powerful tool in any school system’s efforts for equity when implemented effectively. However, rapidly changing technologies and slow-moving systems have led many schools and systems to report challenges in realizing this potential....
3 Ways to Improve Accessibility in Virtual Learning Environments
by Nate Kellogg on June 30 2023
For students with disabilities, accessibility is a critical issue, but technology has played a significant role in improving access and working to ensure all students get what they need. Given assistive technology’s effect on improving...
Asking the Right Questions to Improve Equity in Virtual & Hybrid Learning
by Nate Kellogg on June 27 2023
In working to prove their worth in an ever-changing education landscape, virtual and hybrid schools across the country are looking to hone their craft and make improvements. Over the past year at The Learning Accelerator (TLA), we have supported 20...
Sustaining Equitable Edtech Use: TLA and MA DESE Kick Off a New Peer Learning Cohort
by Roshni Lakhi on November 2 2022
The unexpected and rapid switch to virtual learning during the pandemic led to a massive infusion of technology devices and online programs in school systems across the country. In the wake of this shift, education leaders and practitioners are now...
Without Ethics, Digital Equity is Impossible: Three Questions Leaders Must Answer
by Beth Holland on September 27 2022
Since the start of the pandemic, educators, leaders, and policymakers have undertaken substantial efforts to increase student access to devices and high-speed internet in an attempt to close the digital divide. However, improved digital access...
A Growing Danger of the Digital Use Divide: A Media Illiterate Generation
by Beth Holland and Michael Ham on August 22 2022
Since the introduction of computers into classrooms, the premise has been that increased access to technology would result in more creative, rigorous, personalized, and meaningful learning than what was possible in an analog world. However, despite...
There’s No Digital Equity Without Data Privacy
by Beth Holland on July 25 2022
Whether consciously or unconsciously, apps, internet service providers, and even schools could be selling or releasing data related to students’ — and teachers’ — locations, browsing habits, email content, and even direct messages. Over the past...
Barriers, Challenges, and Empathy in Fostering Broadband Access
by Beth Holland on February 19 2021
This piece was originally published on ShapingEDU: Part 1, Part 2.
In this two-part series, TLA Partner Beth Holland shares the insights gleaned from her research into digital equity for students across the United States.
Dr. Holland underscores...
Looking Back and Looking Forward: Lessons from Lindsay Unified School District
by Beth Holland on April 14 2020
Schools across the country (and around the world) are in the throes of responding to the challenges of remote learning as a result of the novel coronavirus crisis. For the moment, many schools might feel as though they are in survival mode, but...