BLEND IT, BROADLY: It's officially a trend: The Broad Foundation notes today that it has invested nearly $23 million to date--and $20 million last year--to support "blended learning." The funds have gone to 10 nonprofit organizations that are developing or using technologies in ways that "meet the personal needs of each and every student, thereby making dramatic academic gains possible."
Blended learning programs now comprise more than half of the Broad Education Foundation's investments up from about 1/10th only three years ago, observes Luis de la Fuente, a director of the Broad Education Foundation. All the investments are aimed at "strengthening public schools," de la Fuente says.
De la Fuente says that he has been surprised at the pace at which tools and resources for blended learning are emerging--and at how much demand he's seeing from teachers and school districts who want to differentiate instruction for their students.
- The Michigan Education Excellence Foundation ($10 million)
- Khan Academy ($4 million)
- New Classrooms Innovation Partners ($1.35 million)
- Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd ) ($1 million)
- Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools ($1 million)
- Silicon Schools Fund ($1 million)
- iNACOL ($630K)
- 4.0 Schools ($500K)
- Innosight Institute ($365K)
- Intrinsic Schools ($155K)
The Broad Foundation had previously invested $3 million in Rocketship Education, New York City's School of One, and CFY, which runs PowerMyLearning.com.
