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BLENDED LEARNING IN DC PUBLIC SHOOLSDANIEL K. LAUTZENHEISER AND TARYN HOCHLEITNERkeynote address from President Obama). These effortsshould be applauded, but such examples tend to bemore the exception than the rule when it comes to therealities facing most schools.In this paper, then, we ask: what does it take to pursuea meaningful digital learning strategy in the large,urban districts that educate a significant percentage ofour nation’s kids? 1 Thanks in large part to the tenureof former schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, DC hasbeen in the national spotlight for its pursuits in teacheraccountability and charter schooling, and it is seen bymany observers as one of the country’s leading districtsin school reform.How does digital learning fit into this school reformagenda? What progress has the district made, whatobstacles do its leaders face, and what lessons have theylearned? Answers to these questions will illustrate someof the steps other similar urban districts must take asthey grapple with the possibilities and challenges of digitalclassrooms.Welcome to DCWashington, DC, enrolled more than 80,000 studentsin 232 schools in the 2012–13 school year. 2 More than40 percent of those students were in charter schools,leaving just over 45,000 students in 111 schools in theDistrict of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)—a largedistrict, to be sure, but smaller than the likes of NewYork City (995,000 students) or Los Angeles (667,000students). 3 Demographically, the student body is 72percent black, 14 percent Hispanic, and 10 percentwhite. Ten percent of students are English-languagelearners. In 2012, the district’s high school graduationrate was 56 percent. 4To understand DCPS efforts in digital learning isto see first and foremost how they fit into the largerreform ecosystem Chancellor Kaya Henderson is fostering.In 2012, Henderson and Mayor Vincent Grayannounced a five-year strategic plan to improve DCschools. Called “A Capital Commitment,” the planset five goals: increase academic achievement, invest inchronically struggling schools, increase the high schoolgraduation rate, improve student satisfaction, andincrease enrollment.The goals are ambitious. The first, for example,aims for at least 70 percent of students to be proficientin reading and math by 2017 (only about 50 percentof students are at that level currently). 5 In addition tothe Capital Commitment plan, for the 2013–14 academicyear DCPS has specific goals to increase familyengagement, attract highly qualified teachers andprincipals, and improve literacy instruction. Collectively,these goals drive most of the district’s currentinitiatives, including revamping libraries in 45 elementaryschools to foster small-group literacy instruction,extending the school day in nine schools, and placingassistant principals for literacy and reading specialistsin 11 schools. 6Using digital learning to transform theeducational experience is hard work.Another initiative the district is pursuing to advanceits academic goals is blended learning, a form of digitallearning that combines traditional teacher-led instructionwith online instruction on the part of the student.Brian Pick, head of the DCPS Office of Teaching andLearning—which covers all matters of professionaldevelopment, formative assessments, enrichments,intervention, and curriculum design—explains, “Kayahas been a strong supporter of blended learning as asolution to accelerate student achievement. . . . Webelieve that ed tech and the blended learning solutionsthat are out there will help us reach our goals in theshort timeline we have.” 7 This commitment is echoedby John Rice, who oversees DCPS forays into theblended-learning world: “Chancellor Henderson hasidentified five capital commitments that we’re tryingto reach by 2017. And we want our blended learningefforts to align with those as much as possible.”Blended Learning in the Nation’s CapitalBefore 2011, blended learning’s presence in Districtof Columbia classrooms was haphazard, appearingonly in places where enterprising teachers or administratorshad decided to experiment on their own; a2
BLENDED LEARNING IN DC PUBLIC SHOOLSDANIEL K. LAUTZENHEISER AND TARYN HOCHLEITNERPut simply, blended learning is a mix of face-to-faceand online instruction. As DCPS explains, blended-learningmodels have “changed the role of technologyin the classroom from that of a supportive tool intoan integrated component of instruction.” 1 If “digitallearning” is the umbrella term for any learning experiencethat takes place at least partially online, blendedlearning implies some degree of redesigning the traditionallecture-based model of classroom instruction.This means a teacher is no longer solely responsiblefor delivering content to an entire classroom at once,but can use a mix of online tutoring, digital content,teacher-led lessons, and other methods to ensure thatstudents receive targeted instruction.Why pursue blended learning? These models signala departure from the “one-size-fits-all” lecture-basedclassroom. Blended learning offers a more personalizedexperience, usually by incorporating multipleways of learning. In addition to providing aricher learning environment, Digital Learning Now(a nonprofit group supportive of such efforts) writesWhat Is Blended Learning?that blended-learning models are more “productive”because they ensure that “the right resources and interventionsreach the right students at the right time.” 2Finally, the fact that students spend part of their timeworking online also creates the possibility for morereal-time data on student performance that teacherscan use to inform instruction.Notes1. District of Columbia Public Schools, “Blended LearningExecutive Summary” (Version 1), Submitted by BlendedLearning Team, Educational Technology and Library MediaServices, Office of Teaching and Learning, Budget Responses,March 2013, www.dccouncil.us/files/user_uploads/budget_responses/Q8_Attachment_DCPS_Blended_Learning_Executive_Summary_March_2013.pdf.2. Digital Learning Now, “Blended Learning ImplementationGuide,” Version 2.0, September 2013, www.digitallearningnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/BLIG-2.0-Final-Paper.pdf.centralized blended-learning strategy was nonexistent.One of those teachers was John Rice, who, inspired byMichelle Rhee’s reforms, left his high school teachingjob in Florida to move to Washington, DC. Duringhis three years of teaching at Anacostia High School,he started experimenting on his own with a number ofonline instructional tools to help his students. DCPSbegan to notice, to use Rice’s phrase, the “pockets ofinnovation” like his own springing up scattershot inclassrooms across the district.David Rose, director of education technology andlibrary services at DCPS, explains, “We had lots of differentschools trying some blended-learning modelsin DCPS a couple of years ago. And we saw that weneeded to really come up with an overall plan for thedistrict of how we wanted blended learning to look inour different schools and to support those schools thathad already stepped out into this area.” The financialenabler of this nascent plan was a STEM (science, technology,engineering, and math) education grant fromGoogle in the amount of $750,000, which allowedRose to hire the two-person department that wouldfocus exclusively on blended learning. 8Rose recruited the young and energetic Rice to managethese efforts—a largely open-ended position thatinvolves, as Rice describes it, “implementation on theground, meeting with teachers, fixing hardware, providing[professional development], and figuring outwhat we’re going to do in the next five years.” Rice’sprimary role is to be in the schools as much as possible,constantly communicating with teachers and principalswho are on the ground implementing blendedlearning. To that end, he travels every Wednesday tothe schools and classrooms under his purview in anattempt to develop rapport with teachers and principalsand address the concerns that arise.An Organic Approach. Although schools have alwaysused some sort of technology in the classroom, whetheroverhead projectors or laptops or smart boards, recent3
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