Who is Miguel Cardona, Biden’s pick for Education Secretary?

No. 515 | 12/23/20 | Subscribe to this newsletter This issue is sponsored by Nearly a dozen Cabinet nominees later, the Biden-Harris administration has finally named its pick for the top education job in the country: Miguel Cardona. A "lifelong champion of public education," as President-elect Joe Biden said in a statement, Cardona has spent most of his life and career in Connecticut where he studied, taught and currently heads the state department of education. The announcement comes as Congress is nearing a deal on $82 billion in new relief for education (although President Trump has expressed objections to the bill). Cardona holds degrees in bilingual and bicultural education and is a proponent of expanding these programs, at a time when public schools grow increasingly diverse. He helped oversee the distribution of laptops and internet connections across his state to support remote instruction. And he's pushed to reopen schools—something that President-elect Biden has vowed to do within 100 days after taking office. And he's also game to strap on a VR headset. Here's what we know about the nominee for the 12th U.S. Education Secretary. 📰 IN OTHER HEADLINES AUTOMATE THIS: The pandemic has wiped out many jobs. Some may never return, due to advances in artificial intelligence. A new nonprofit, the AI Education Project, aims to help students prepare for an uncertain future. EdSurge recently chatted with its co-founder Ora Tanner and Girls Who Code COO Tarika Barrett about their efforts to teach kids about the emerging technologies shaping tomorrow's workforce. PARENTS PROTEST REMOTE PROCTORING: This week a group of parents became the latest group to push back against automated proctoring software. More than 2,000 parents signed a letter to one of the largest textbook publishers, McGraw-Hill, calling on it to end its partnership with Proctorio, calling the software "invasive and racially biased." ISA, AMA: Income-share agreements have emerged as a new student financing option in higher education that have stirred both hopes and concerns. How is this experiment faring so far? On EdSurge Live this week, we hear from a couple of the first "guinea pigs" from these programs (including the first graduate of Purdue's ISA fund) and what researchers are learning. Sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt THE TEST OF TIME: As the pandemic has completely transformed teaching and learning in less than a year, assessments must now catch up. HMH is hard at work building future-facing assessment tools to help educators quickly identify areas of learning loss and get students back on track. 💰 KA'CHING! LIFE IN THE FAST LANE: Driver's ed is hardly the most exciting lane in the education market. But Aceable has used it as a starting point to grow its mobile-education platform into other industries like real estate. Along the way, the Austin-based startup also picked up $50 million in a Series C round led by private equity firm HGGC. Its next stop? We talked to CEO Blake Garrett to find out. Other Deals: Brainly, a New York-based developer of an online peer-to-peer learning platform, has raised $80 million in a Series D round led by previous investor Learn Capital and joined by Prosus Ventures, Runa Capital, MantaRay, and General Catalyst Partners. Netflix Founder and Co-CEO Reed Hastings has made an undisclosed "seven-figure donation" to The Minerva Institute, the nonprofit arm affiliated with The Minerva Project, a San Francisco-based provider of an alternative higher-ed program and instructional software. The following is a message from our sponsor Edtech products earning top Standards alignment recognition Meet the companies and products earning top recognition from ISTE for providing high-quality, ISTE Standards-aligned learning experiences that enhance digital-age skills. After a review by our Standards experts, ISTE works with Seal holders to increase brand awareness through multiple outreach and publication channels. Learn how your product can earn a Seal of Alignment. 🎧 ON THE PODCAST HOW MINDS 'GRASP': Forgetting is a feature, not a bug. That's one of the surprising truths about how the brain works found in the new book "Grasp: The Science Transforming How We Learn." We talk with the book's co-author, Sanjay Sarma, a professor and the vice president for open learning at MIT, who says the way teaching is typically done doesn't match with how the brain actually learns. 🤔 YEAR-END REFLECTIONS Over the following weeks, EdSurge will be publishing a series of year-end reflections from education leaders. THE YEAR OF THE EDTECH PARADOX: "As an edtech investor, 2020 was a great year. As an impact investor focused on building a more equitable future, 2020 was devastating. As a mother, 2020 was unsettling." So writes Isabelle Hau, a senior fellow at Imaginable Futures. To support solutions that address systemic inequities, she adds, the industry must rethink these three fundamental assumptions in edtech. THINGS FALL APART; THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD: That's a line from William Butler Yeats—and it's also how Jess Gartner describes the state of education. The teacher-turned-CEO of Allovue, an education finance startup, lays out the burden put on public educators, who've long been tasked to do more with less. And that was before a pandemic. "Public schools cannot rely on martyrdom and self-sacrifice to keep staff and students," she writes. (ANOTHER) YEAR OF THE MOOC: As millions suddenly found themselves with free time on their hands during the pandemic, many people turned to online courses—especially, to free courses known as MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses. In fact, Dhawal Shah, founder of MOOC discovery platform Class Central, argues 2020 just might be the second year of the MOOC. 🗨️ JOIN THE CONVERSATION Almost unreal: Tune in for this discussion on how leveraging interactive learning environments in the classroom can foster rich educational experiences and expand students' imagination and storytelling capacity. Panelists will discuss how immersive learning can serve students now and in the future. Register today. Events horizon: Education industry conferences are changing plans for 2021. Among the latest updates: NYEdTech Week, typically held in NYC, will be held virtually on April 19-22, for free. See the latest updates in our tracker of U.S. education industry events. 🏃 MOVERS & SHAKERS Julia Fallon has been named as executive director of The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). Kristina Francis is now executive director of JFFLabs, a division of the Boston-based nonprofit Jobs for the Future that works with entrepreneurs and funders on education and workforce solutions. Chris Hand is now chief revenue officer of Promethean, the Seattle-based provider of interactive display tools for education. Scott Kinney and Kelli Campbell have been appointed CEO and president, respectively, of Discovery Education. Beth Polcari will be president of Scholastic's international business effective Jan. 1, 2021. Rose Else-Mitchell will also be president of the company's education solutions division. She will work with Polcari and Greg Worrell, current president of Scholastic Education, to combine their divisions into a single Education Solutions group, led by Else-Mitchell, on June 1, 2021. Andrew Sugerman has been named president of Sketchy, a Los Angeles-based provider of an online visual learning platform currently used for medical education. 👀 ALSO ON OUR RADAR Coding is sometimes described as a kind of foreign language. But neuroscientists have found "to the brain, reading computer code is not the same as reading language." (MIT News) New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation to suspend the use of facial recognition and biometric technology in schools< and direct a study on whether their use is appropriate in schools. Looking for a job in edtech? You've come to the right place. EdSurge has the leading edtech jobs board in the industry with openings from schools, nonprofits and companies.   Post a job | See all jobs District Partnerships Goalbook Goalbook is hiring for District Partnerships across the country to fuel our growth. You'll lead efforts to bring Goalbook into school districts and work closely with instructional leaders. Sales   •    Startup   •   OH/IN, Atlanta/Charlotte/Jacksonville   Vice President, Technology Achievement First Achievement First is looking for a Vice President of Technology who will lead and execute the strategy for IT infrastructure, help desk customer support, staff/student device management, and on-premise/cloud network infrastructure. Project Management •    Non Profit   •   Multiple   School and District Inside Sales Representative Lalilo Lalilo is looking for a passionate School and District Inside Sales Representative. Sales  •    Startup   •   Remote   Executive Director Lead By Learning This is a terrific leadership opportunity to come into a well-established org with an impeccable reputation for building learning communities among teachers and principals. The new ED will manage the staff, finance, operations, and fund development. C-Level Executive Leadership  •  Non Profit   •   Oakland, CA   Business Development Executive  GiveCampus We're looking for a Business Development Executive to help drive GiveCampus' growth in the pursuit of improving access, quality and affordability. Sales  •    Startup    •   Multiple or Remote   Director of Development Springboard Collaborative As Springboard experiences rapid year-over-year growth—primarily driven through fee-for-service contracts—we seek to bolster our development operation to keep pace with the increased demand for our services in marginalized communities. Marketing   •   Non Profit   •   Remote   Events Post an event   •   See all events and meetups   Learning and the Brain 59: Teaching Purposeful Minds This virtual conference will explore the importance of purpose, connections (including love and belonging), and curiosity and exploration, and how they can help support learning, coping, and personal growth. Apr 17-18 • Online • More than $250    THANKS FOR READING ➔ Got any feedback? We love hearing from readers. Shoot us a note, critiques, a joke—whatever you've got! ➔ Interested in reaching our readers? Sponsor this newsletter. ➔ Event planners: Feature your in-person or virtual event on our calendar & newsletters. EdSurge covers and connects the people, ideas and technologies that shape the future of learning. We are an independent news and research initiative of the International Society for Technology in Education. International Society for Technology in Education, 621 SW Morrison Street, Suite 800, Portland, Oregon 97205, USA, 800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 503.342.2848 (Int'l) Unsubscribe Manage preferences