Ranking educational innovation

Center for American Progress (2009) Interactive Map: Leaders and Laggards: A State-By-State Report Card of Educational Innovation Washington DC: Center for American Progress

For those of you who love rankings, this is a fascinating web site, focused on the k-12 level. The most advanced on technology innovation? West Virginia. The most retarded? Nevada. Whatever you think about rankings, this is a great way of presenting data. However, look at the indicators of innovation they used:

• what is the ratio of the number of students in the state divided by the number of instructional computers that are available for instruction and connected to the Internet by a T1, T3, or cable modem?
• has the state established a virtual school, defined as creating or financing an education institution where instruction is delivered over the Internet?
• does the state offer a computer-based assessment to all students in the grade and subject in which the test is offered and is the assessment open to all students?
• are teachers required to demonstrate technology competence through a formal assessment in order to receive an initial teaching license?

Interesting indicators. If you wanted to produce an index of technology innovation in your institution, what criteria would you use? I’m not sure these would be mine (except for the last one), but let’s hear from you first.

From the Center for American Progress home page:

The Center for American Progress is a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. We combine bold policy ideas with a modern communications platform to help shape the national debate, expose the hollowness of conservative governing philosophy, and challenge the media to cover the issues that truly matter.