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12:00

The Oregonian - Welcome to our chat about innovations in Oregon schools. Please add your comments and questions as we go.

12:01

The Oregonian - I'll now turn it over to John Tapogna, who wrote a Sunday Opinion piece on this topic.

12:01

[Comment From Charles Arthur]
My name is Charles Arthur. I’m particularly interested in this discussion as a director of charter schools in the Portland area for seven years. I hope that charter schools that have already created a track record in Oregon will be given a part in this discussion. I think that the charter school laws provide a unique opportunity for some groups to demonstrate teaching approaches, in small laboratories, that are not currently prevalent in school systems. However, to gain any credibility in this effort, the charter schools need to provide good evidence of success with a significant number of students over time.

12:02

Tapogna - You're right on the money Mr. Arthur.

12:03

Tapogna - Data will drive the discussion with the Obama Administration. They want to see a lot of experimentation of different educational approaches. They also want to see a lot of rigorous evaluation of outcomes.

12:03

[Comment From Charles Arthur]
I emailed to you a letter with two short documents about what we've done. I hope that you have received it.

12:04

Tapogna - I look forward to reviewing them and wish you well with your important work.

12:04

[Comment From Rinda Montgomery Conwell]
Hello, I am the assistant superintendent of an Oregon Education Service District with an award-winning distance learning program with a hybrid delivery platform. We are taking the next step in our delivery by offering a course this fall in a 3-D virtual world on a private site reserved for teens and adults with background checks. This is a global consortium of 40 schools in nine countries. Our focus will be Oregon standards in Language Arts communications, educational technology, and career-related learning. We are rigorous, and we are a consortium, so the grades actually come through our component schools.

12:06

Tapogna - Again, these are the types of innovations that the Obama Administration are interested in learning about. The trick will be understanding how your students would have fared had they not entered your program.

12:07

[Comment From Zeke Smith]
Hey John. Nice piece by the way. Do you have specific advice for Districts about how to effectively work with ODE through the RTT application process?

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