Giving Compass' Take:

• Julia Freeland Fisher recaps five K-12 and higher education learnings from 2018 - from policy to research and innovation. 

• How can funders further education progress in 2019? 

• Learn about the importance of students' networks. 

This year the education team at the Christensen Institute dug into a wide array of innovative models and policies across the K-12 and higher education spheres. Here are the big five questions we set out to answer in 2018:

1. How can higher education policy protect—and encourage—innovation? Unlocking online competency-based models that put students at the center of higher education’s business model; fixing a byzantine and input-driven accreditation model that reinforces the broken business model and spurns innovation; and setting up an infrastructure to address the startling lack of data available to hold colleges and universities accountable for producing student outcomes.

2. What does the future of teaching hold? New instructional models, expanded definitions of student success, and powerful technologies are all penetrating K-12 classrooms.

3. We know what students know… but what about whom they know? Decades of education reform efforts have brought academic outcomes—and disparities therein—into focus.

4. What are the ingredients for disrupting college? As new entrants continue to flood the higher education market, it could be tempting to ignore the innovations emerging from traditional institutions. But we’ve also seen promising approaches to expand affordability and access emerge from visionary leaders and innovative business models within traditional systems.

5. Who’s blending learning? For over five years, the Christensen Institute has been building the largest database of blended-learning schools and districts around the world. This year we continued to add to our directory of schools and districts integrating technology to shift instruction and diversify learning pathways.

Read the full article about K-12 and higher education learnings by Julia Freeland Fisher at Christensen Institute.