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The Rise of K-12 Blended
Learning in America
Heather C. Staker
Senior Research Fellow
Innosight Institute
Innovation Theory
Sustaining and Disruptive Innovations
Performance
Incumbents nearly always win
Time
Copyright Clayton M. Christensen
Different measure
Of Performance
Performance
Disruptive Innovations create asymmetric competition
Incumbents nearly always win
60% on
$500,000
45% on
$250,000
Time
40%
20%
on $2,000
Entrants nearly always win
Copyright Clayton M. Christensen
Time
Disruption in business models has been the dominant
mechanism for making things more affordable and accessible
Yesterday
• Ford
• Dept. Stores
• Digital Eqpt.
• Delta
• JP Morgan
• Xerox
• IBM
• Cullinet
• AT&T
• State universities
• Sony DiskMan
Today
• Toyota
• Wal-Mart
• Dell
• Southwest Airlines
• Fidelity
• Canon
• Microsoft
• Oracle
• Cingular
• Community colleges
• Apple iPod
Copyright Clayton M. Christensen
Disruption of Toyota
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Disruption in business models has been the dominant
mechanism for making things more affordable and accessible
Yesterday
• Ford
• Dept. Stores
• Digital Eqpt.
• Delta
• JP Morgan
• Xerox
• IBM
• Cullinet
• AT&T
• State universities
• Sony DiskMan
Today
• Toyota
• Wal-Mart
• Dell
• Southwest Airlines
• Fidelity
• Canon
• Microsoft
• Oracle
• Cingular
• Community colleges
• Apple iPod
Copyright Clayton M. Christensen
Tomorrow
• Chery
• Internet retail
• RIM Blackberry
• Air taxis
• ETFs
• Zink
• Linux
• Salesforce.com
• Skype
• Online universities
• Cell Phones
When they “cram” computers into the traditional model,
schools sustain the traditional system
Performance
Core
curriculum
Different measure
Of Performance
Path taken by
most schools,
foundations and
education software
companies
Time
Time
Copyright Clayton M. Christensen
Disruptions begin in areas of non-consumption
• Credit recovery
• Professional development
• Drop outs
• Pre-K
• AP/advanced courses
• After school
• Scheduling conflicts
• In the home
• Home-schooled and
• Incarcerated youth
homebound students
• In-school suspension
• Small, rural, urban schools • School bus commute
• Unit recovery
• Summer school
• Disaster preparedness
• Teacher absenteeism
• Tutoring
Looming budget cuts and teacher shortages are an opportunity,
not a threat
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Online learning gaining adoption
• Enrollments up from 45,000 in 2000 to 1,000,000 in 2007
• 27% of high school students took online course in 2009
• Ambient Insight projects 10.5M students taking online
courses by 2014
Copyright Clayton M. Christensen
Much of online learning to take place
through blending
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Definition of blended learning
Any time a student learns in part in a supervised brick-andmortar place away from home
and
At least in part through online delivery, with some element
of student control over time, place, path and/or pace
=
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Blended
learning
6 Models of blended learning
F2F Driver
Rotation
Flex
More traditional
elements
Fewer
traditional
elements
Online Lab
Self Blend
Online Driver
Dimensions
LOCATION
TYPE OF
INSTRUCTION
STUDENT
INDEPENDENCE
EXTRACURRICULARS
AND SOCIALIZING
Supervised brick and
mortar
Some potential
for flexibility
Most potential
for remote
Face-to-face
Mix of both
Online delivery
Low
Medium
High
Traditional
Traditional plus
online options
Varies from
both options to
neither option
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Model #1: Face-to-Face Driver
• Face-to-face teachers deliver most of the
curricula
• They use online resources to supplement or
remediate
• Often in the back of the classroom or a lab
Case Study: High Tech High
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Very skeptical about
online for writing
Model #2: Rotation
• For each course, students rotate on a fixed
schedule between online and f2f
• “In between”
• Sometimes online part is remote
• Often same teacher for online and f2f
Case Study: Carpe Diem Collegiate High School
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Model #3: Flex
• Online platform delivers most curricula
• F2F teachers provide flexible, as-needed
support
• Individual tutoring, small group discussion
Case Study: Advance Path Academics
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Model #4: Online Lab
• Online platform delivers entire course, but in
brick-and-mortar lab or classroom
• Usually online teachers
• Paraprofessionals supervise
Case Study: Miami-Dade County Public Schools
- 7,000 students
- 9,000 half-credit
courses
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Model #5: Self-Blend
• Individual student takes online classes a la
carte
• The online learning is remote
• The traditional learning is brick-and-mortar
Case Study: Alison Johnson
At school:
• AP English
• Calculus
• Spanish 3
• Chemistry
• Drill team
At home:
• AP Computer Science
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
Model #6: Online Driver
• Online platform and teacher deliver all
curricula
• Students work mostly remotely
• F2F check-ins are optional or required
Case Study: Albuquerque eCADEMY Alternative School
Spend per pupil
$10,000
Central
Student Supports
School Services
Administration
and Operations
Central
Student Supports
School Services
Administration and
Operations
Instruction
Instruction
Source: Parthenon Group
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.
 Personnel
efficiencies
 Textbook
savings
 Facilities
savings
 School services
savings
Priorities to capture the potential
State and Federal
Policymakers
Superintendents and
Principals
 Act on Digital Learning Now!
recommendations
 Create uncapped
autonomous zones for
innovation
 Eliminate input-based rules
(ratios, certifications,
procedures, etc.)
 Focus on outputs. Tie funding
and scaling to higher
accountability around
outcomes
 Consider strengths and
weaknesses of each blendedlearning model
 To benefit from scaling, must
have access to high-quality,
affordable content that is
adaptive to each student
 Be prepared to throw out old
notions of teacher roles,
facility set-up, schedules,
grades, and the rest
 Demand accountability and
funding around results, not
inputs
Copyright Innosight Institute, Inc.