Contributor

Tom Vander Ark, Partner, Revolution Learning

Biography provided by participant

Tom Vander Ark is a partner in Revolution Learning, a private equity investor concentrating on improving formal and informal learning globally. With a focus on innovative learning tools, platforms, and formats, Revolution Learning focuses on companies that improve educational engagement, access, and efficiency with a particular interested in innovations that connect young people in urban American and emerging economies with viable life options. Tom is also a partner in Vander Ark/Ratcliff, a public affairs firm advocating for innovation and entrepreneurship in education. He blogs at EdReformer.com.

Previously he served as President of the X PRIZE Foundation, which creates and manages prizes that drive innovators to solve some of the greatest challenges facing the world. Mr. Vander Ark also served for seven years as Executive Director of Education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he developed and implemented more than $3.5 billion in scholarship and grant programs to improve education throughout the United States. Prior to his role with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Vander Ark was the first business executive to serve as a public school superintendent.

Recent Responses

November 17, 2009 11:56 PM

RE: What's Needed To Make Sure Innovation Is Working?

I'm a little late to the party, but think most of you have missed the boat on this one--it's an inefficient market that it dampens R&D investment and innovation diffusion. While a couple large-scale well organized government efforts would reduce the random inapplicability that characterizes most education research today, the real solution lies in getting the incentives right. There’s no lack of investment and innovation in other sectors—this problem is peculiar to education and stems from the history of local control and limitations on private sector involvement. Billions of dollars flowed into clean tech in the last three years wtih the expectation of… Read more

November 9, 2009 01:44 PM

RE: Building Consensus Behind ESEA Reauthorization

NCLB signaled the commitment of leadership to measurement, school accountability, public school choice, teacher effectiveness, and most importantly, equitable outcomes. These aims are more important than ever and should undergird reauthorization of ESEA. The Department is rolling out the largest and most aggressive reform package in history. Congress should delay reauthorization for at least a year and let Race to the Top and Invest in Innovation change the landscape and the nature of the public debate. The system we have will not achieve the goals the President has laid out. We face an innovation challenge. We need new instructional models, adaptive assessments, targeted tutoring,… Read more

November 2, 2009 10:01 AM

RE: Are Turnarounds A Losing Strategy?

Trading good seats for bad seats is the most effective strategy--closing bad schools and opening good school in roughly the same proportion. As Hoxby has pointed out, this is working well in Harlem. However, as pointed out yesterday, RttT and School Improvement Grants require school specific interventions. Green Dot’s takeover at Locke High School in LA is a promising example of closing and reopening with much the same group of students. Close and restart has been happening successfully in New York since Julia Richmond High School was replaced by four new schools in 1993. In this decade, Evander Childs, South Bronx,… Read more

October 26, 2009 09:42 AM

RE: Should Private Money Fund Public Schools?

Public-private partnerships are a good idea; there should be more. But I hope the private partners supplanting public funds are in for the long run--I think schools in many states have a couple more years of tough budgets ahead. On a more interesting topic, I was hoping to see more opportunity in crisis--leaders using the recession to make important policy or administrative gains including: closing failing schools replacing struggling alternative schools with blended models like AdvancePath that can do a better job for half of what most districts spend maintaining a long day/year by going partially blended like Rocketship in… Read more

October 19, 2009 09:05 AM

RE: How Should Teacher Effectiveness Be Assessed?

We need to improve observation and value-added data to dramatically improve teacher evaluation. The best observation system I've seen is KC KS where teaching is a public act and where teachers receive frequent feedback on a well developed instructional framework--it's real time, broad based, and useful. Value-added measures should incorporate periodic as well as summative assessment--it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone at the end of the year when a third grade classroom fails to make a year of progress in reading. I'm hoping that the $350 million the feds plan to spend on assessment around the Common Core results… Read more

October 13, 2009 09:09 AM

RE: Should i3 Fund Soften Eligibility Requirements?

Looks like we all agree that dropping the AYP requirement would be a good idea. It creates the opportunity for schools and districts that need help to partner with an innovative approach or a scaled solution. … Read more

October 5, 2009 11:48 AM

RE: Are State Data Systems Worth The Risk?

The terminal outcomes of K-12 aren't only test scores and graduation rates, they should include college completion and employment. We can't really measure K-12 effectiveness without the ability to know where high school leavers/graduates go. Our college dropout rate is even worse than our high school drop out rate. We won't be able to help students make better post secondary choices or hold higher education accountable for bad completion rates without the data. Florida's experience seems to indicate that we can add this important information without comprimising privacy.… Read more

September 29, 2009 02:23 PM

RE: Could Common State Standards Impact Quality?

National standards will end the unintended race-to-the-bottom which disproportionately impacts college and career preparation for low income and minority students. They will also ease expansion of high quality charter school operators and provide investment incentive for digital content development. Specifically, a common core will allow development of a library of open and proprietary learning objects with smart recommendation engines supported by aligned student, teacher, and school supports--perhaps several version each supported by philanthropic and venture capital. … Read more

September 22, 2009 08:51 AM

RE: What Is The Solution To The High School Dropout Crisis?

Secretary Duncan is right, we should improve/replace the worst schools in the country. This would quickly improve the drop out problem. The improvement in holding power of Locke High School after Green Dot took over is an impressive example. There are four dozen charter management organizations like Green Dot that run very good schools and they're ready to take on 'restart' opportunities nationally. They all run small supportive college prep schools with proven results. Without concerted advocacy we'll see few restarts and more tepid district-led improvement efforts. A strong push by local and national advocacy groups could result in… Read more

September 8, 2009 10:40 PM

RE: Has The P21 Movement Succeeded?

As a number of C21 critics have pointed out, good schools have long taught critical thinking and enough content to think about. What's missing from this thread is the importance of performance assessments. We've bent public education to bubble sheet assessment and squeezed out nearly everything authentic about learning. Good schools like High Tech High demand frequent presentations of learning where students show what they know. The focus is on great work product not great test scores (which, of course, take care of themselves). The Partnership has a lot of supporters but hasn't done much to change schooling in… Read more

August 31, 2009 11:36 AM

RE: What Are The Best Methods For School Improvement?

We've learned a good deal about improving elementary schools in the last decade. A focused leader, data driven instruction, and improved time on task can quickly boost lagging reading and math scores. Secondary schools are a different matter. The only thing wrong with a failing high school is everything--course offering, instruction, student support, scale, structure, culture and community connections. Changing all these variables rapidly is a challenge. The Department has laid out four improvement strategies. In order of severity, they include transformation, turnaround, restart, and closure. For low achievement, low attainment high schools, closure and replacement ('restart') is… Read more

August 24, 2009 10:17 AM

RE: How Should Students Be Prepared For College?

High school graduation is the most important step toward college preparation. American graduation rates remain low especially for low income and minority students. Young people should have the choice of several engaging and supportive high school options that provide a pathway to college and careers. Every student should have an advisor that, with the guardian and student, takes responsibility for academic success. Kids need to work hard to be college ready, and we need to do a better job of creating a portfolio of options that will motivate and support students through graduation. The second most important factor is participation in a… Read more

August 10, 2009 12:10 PM

RE: Should Students Be Paid To Learn?

We know surprisingly little about what motivates students to do difficult work, to persist in school, graduate and go on to post secondary learning. The "hook" is different for every young person. Perhaps most often, the hook is a great teacher that connects with and inspires a young person. For some students, the hook is a themed school with application opportunities in areas of interest. For some students, the opportunity to earn financial rewards is an important motivation. Affluent families have used versions of this strategy for generations. Reach is a New York City program, based on the success of… Read more

August 3, 2009 09:00 AM

RE: Are The 'Race To The Top' Requirements Fair?

Thank goodness that Jon Schnur had the foresight to sneak RTT into ARRA. Otherwise, we’d be in an ugly and unproductive reauthorization battle that would make health care look tame. RTT gives Duncan a preauthorization blast of capital aligned with an aggressive reform agenda. As I noted last week on HuffPost, RTT will feed the rabbits (the states ready to move) and won’t be held back by the rebel, laggard, and the complacent states. Two of the difficult 19 grant criteria include fully implementing the Data Quality Campaign elements and using “differentiating teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance.” It’s a game changing… Read more

July 27, 2009 02:59 PM

RE: How Can We Close The Achievement Gap?

The most important thing we can do to narrow the persistent gaps in achievement and attainment is make good on the good school promise: every American family deserves access to at least one good public school and every student deserves a good teacher. NCLB had these intentions but fell short in large part because states failed to make the promise real; thousands of struggling schools have received only limited improvement efforts and chronic failure has been accepted far too long. Duncan’s encouragement to replace or transform the worst 5% of American schools is a step in the right direction. State leaders like… Read more

July 14, 2009 06:19 AM

RE: How Can Colleges Help Graduates Pursue A Career?

For college students not attending a highly selective university, the most valuable employment asset is work experience. Work and community-based learning should begin in high school. Three networks that do a particularly good job of structuring work experiences include Cristo Rey, Big Picture, High Tech High. Students graduating from schools in these networks have a good sense of what they’re interested in and perhaps even more importantly what they’re not interested in. They are comfortable and confident in adult work settings. And they have had dozens of experiences producing high quality work product subject to the scrutiny of public inspection. Colleges and departments vary… Read more

July 14, 2009 07:00 AM

RE: Is 'Mayoral Control' The Answer For Urban Schools?

The problem we're trying to solve here is that with occasional exceptions urban school boards don't work. As explored in a recent HuffPost, it's difficult to elect and sustain a board capable of providing stable and effective leadership. Boston, Chicago, NY, and DC indicate that a partnership between a strong mayor and a courageous superintendent can be an effective alternative. Nelson Smith made the right point--our cities need portfolio managers (as described by Paul Hill in It Takes a City). … Read more

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