The debate around teachers and public education’s challenges is primed with rhetoric, conflict, intense emotion and lack of unity.  On the one side, policy makers, school districts…

So how do we apply the leadership concepts of vision, role model and recognition that Robert Steven Kaplan outlined in his great book “What to Ask the Person in the Mirror”? Matchbook…

  Robert Steven Kaplan, Harvard Business School Professor and co-chairman of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, former vice-chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. in his recent…

In my last update, I referenced how Stanford & University of California Berkeley lecturer Steve Blank in the Harvard Business Review May 2013 article “Why the Lean Start-Up Changes…

  Launching a start-up is risky, regardless of industry.  75% of all start-ups fail.  Period.  Faint of heart need not apply. The collateral damage of time, money,…

Harvard Education Specialist Tony Wagner has a new book out called “Creating Innovators:  The Making of Innovators Who Will Change the World”.  I have ordered it but not…

Education Researcher Sugata Mitra is the winner of the 2013 TED Prize.  He will use his $1M prize to build a school in the cloud, accessible by any student, anywhere, anytime. …

I am about to talk about Twitter but before I do, I must confess that I do not have a Twitter account.  I realize that my confession may be conjuring images of a Neanderthal or…

Daniel Pink is one of my favorite authors.  His last 3 books were so influential in framing my perspective from social science research around 3 key dimensions of the learning…

We recently witnessed our nation’s single most watched annual sporting event, the Super Bowl.  Regardless of whether your team won or not, or whether you are a casual fan or…

Yesterday, February 6th was National Digital Learning Day.  Did you blow out your digital cake online or simply have an app to do that for you?  ☺  I am not sure where…

I recently attended the Intersection; a one-day event held at Google’s HQ in Mountain View, California designed to bring together innovative thought leaders from the business world…

Matchbook Learning is excited to announce Eric Nadelstern, one of the country's leading educators, is joining our team as our Chief Academic Advisor.  Eric is a Professor of Practice…

As we head into the last week of school before Xmas break and look forward to spending time with our family and loved ones, the events that transpired this past week at Sandy Hook Elementary…

As more and more manufacturing is being done overseas in countries whose costs of labor are a fraction of Western labor pricing, and the world’s consumption is markedly shifting eastward…

India’s Datawind recently introduced a $35 tablet, the Aakash 2, complete with a 7.5 inch screen, Android operating system and Wi-Fi available for as little as $2/month.  BOOM! …

As a country and society we are fascinated with vision.  Much of our current dissatisfaction with politics in general and politicians specifically is the current vacuum of vision,…

The October 2012 Issue of the Harvard Business Review features the topic of “Big Data” and how it is sparking a management revolution.  Just what is “Big Data” you ask…

Resiliency? The number one question, concern and source of skepticism I receive around Matchbook Learning’s vision have nothing to do with blended learning.  Most potential buyers…

In turnaround schools that partner with Matchbook Learning, the Blended Learning Specialist is a professional project manager and coach for teachers. In most professions (e.g., business…

Kristin Floreno is a new Blended Learning Specialist at Brenda Scott Academy in Detroit. The turnaround program, in cooperation with Matchbook Learning, was launched this year to move…

Greg Hurst started this week as Matchbook Learning's Blended Instruction Specialist at A.L. Holmes School, joining Dr. Susan Claiborne, Matchbook Learning's Program Director at A.L.…

I read not too long ago Robert McKee’s seminal book, “Story”.  This book is the core textbook in most film schools where aspiring film directors, producers and scriptwriters…

After a year of converting a bottom 5%, traditional, bricks and mortar K-8 public school into a 21st century blended school, the results are in.  Approximately 8 out of every 10…

Summer School Those two dreaded words for many students.  The thought of being trapped inside a school building, remediating on what wasn’t taught or grasped well during the…

MBL DESIGN PHILOSOPHY: Our point of view on how we will achieve success   OUR VISION =   OUR VALUE PROPOSITION + OUR STRATEGY              …

This blog, the first of two parts, articulates our design philosophy around achieving a vision. MBL DESIGN PHILOSOPHY: Our point of view on how we will achieve success Every successful…

With any airplane crash, there are many unanswered questions as to what brought the plane down. Investigators turn to the airplane's flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder…

9%.  This is the probability that a child born in a bottom income quartile zip code in the US has of achieving a college degree by age 25.  9% Why? According to Eric Hanushek,…

One often hears today the refrain that America is losing its global competitiveness and the only way back is to prepare our students to enter and excel in the most competitive of world…

There are just a handful of words in the English language that generate visceral reactions regardless of context.  Genocide.  Rape.  Incest.  Murder.  Racism.…

I am not even sure kids today would even get the Pac-man reference above.  But for an entire generation one generation ago, Pac-man was one of the first arcade video games (here…

Recently my parents who are both in their 80’s decided to downsize from their home to become renters.  The process of downsizing led them to dispense of an array of items collected…

What would you do with an extra $2 TRILLION?  According to recent research quoted by colleague Stacey Childress of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in her March 2012 Harvard…

The K-12 education marketplace is emerging with virtual schools now entering the world of bricks-and-mortar schools creating a new kind of “blended school”, each of which touts…

FRUSTRATION.  Whether you are new to K-12 public education reform, have spent a career in it or have observed the headlines of this movement, as a concerned parent, citizen or…