What is 54321 Michigan?

54321 Michigan started as a presentation at the MACUL 2011 conference in Detroit, Michigan. I joked that it was my Jerry Maguire, blue-folder vision statement. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was in the process of releasing his Any Time, Any Place, Any Way, Any Pace vision for education. The five elements are what I believed public education needs in order realize this vision:

5. Internet-ready device with unencumbered access to the Internet for every student.

4. Consolidation of back-office systems and services to maximize efficiency and build capacity.

3. Capacity building for every educator to facilitate the transformation of classroom instruction.

2. Digital education resources and online, real-time assessments that creates 24/7 access to learning.

1. Innovative, whole-school transformation models that engage students and deliver personalized, individualized instruction.

Instead of getting me fired, the 5 points clarified what others already knew: schools, by and large, are missing these key elements needed to innovate. These like-minded leaders have joined in developing ways and means of providing these building blocks for change to schools in Michigan.

We have two prominent partnerships: in September 2011, the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) adopted 54321 as a work plan and hired connectors and collaborators to start the process of implementation. At approximately the same time, the Center of Innovation for Michigan (CIE) formed a non-profit, public-private partnership to serve as a platform for connecting, sharing, and scaling innovation.

We need your help. First, this blog is meant to help "crowd source" an annotated bibliography that provides empirical support for the five points. We realize that Jerry Maguire or Gov. Snyder didn't need a bib to submit their treatises to the world; however, you can help build the evidence base that schools are stuck in current models and need the basic elements of innovation to transform. Our goal is to move 54321 Michigan beyond a rant or response into action and we need to provide an evidence-based industry like public education with support that good things can and should be done.

So what do you think, will you help, will you join us? To get started, pick one of the points and make comment. Support it with a citation and link to a resource. Try to use APA if you can.

5. Internet-Ready Device and Unencumbered Access

The 2012 MACUL Journal Conference Edition published the edited treatise of 54321 Michigan (PDF). It was a call to like-minded individuals to join our effort to provide schools with support to innovate. Let's use the sections from the journal articles as a base:

5. One:One Access and Connectivity: one-to-one computing is a given in any knowledge-based, global economy and yet we send our students to schools with outdated, inferior quantities of computers. If Michigan wants individualized, personalized learning that gives every student a chance at success, providing a device for every student is required. With the cost of Internet- capable devices plummeting, now is the time to address the real inequity in 21st Century Learning: the lack of Internet-ready devices in our schools.


What’s more, because Michigan lacks an integrated statewide network, Internet connectivity of our schools is spotty at best. In one county, for example, you will find two high schools 30 miles apart, one with 100mbps to the high school and the other with 3mbps for the entire district. Shared networking is progressing in the state and holds great promise for lowering cost while boosting connectivity, but the current effort will leave schools behind. Thanks to large-scale federal investments, Michigan will have a premier Internet backbone in place within 5 years. What our state needs now is effective policy and an executable plan to connect every school building and library to this network at connectivity speeds of 1gbps or greater. We also need to look at creating financial incentives for school-age family discounts for broadband to the home. 

So can you help? This blog is meant to help "crowd source" an annotated bibliography that provides empirical support for the five points. Our goal is to move 54321 Michigan beyond a rant or response into action and we need to provide an evidence-based industry like public education with support that good things can and should be done.

Can support the claim that "every student needs a internet-ready device with unencumbered access to the internet" with a citation and link to a resource? Then post a comment with that information. Please try to use APA if you can. Thank you!

4. Consolidation of Back-Office Systems and Support

4. Consolidation of Business, Data, and Technology Services: There is hidden potential to fund our push for one:one for every student by reducing the cost of schooling in Michigan by consolidating “back office” operations, including student information systems, instructional data systems, and business accounting software. The lack of consistent Internet connectivity has slowed this progress, but we lack clear state-level policy and incentives for moving this consolidation forward. By consolidating business, data, and technology services to a regional level, Michigan will increase the quality of services while reducing cost and increasing the use of data in making decisions. 

So can you help? This blog is meant to help "crowd source" an annotated bibliography that provides empirical support for the five points. Our goal is to move 54321 Michigan beyond a rant or response into action and we need to provide an evidence-based industry like public education with support that good things can and should be done.

Can support the claim that "consolidation of back-office systems and support will improve opportunities to innovate" with a citation and link to a resource? Then post a comment with that information. Please try to use APA if you can. Thank you!

3. Building Teacher Capacity

3. Teacher Capacity. If every student walked into their classrooms tomorrow with an internet-ready device with unencumbered access to the Internet, by and large, their teachers would not know how to utilize the powerful technology in their students’ hands. I fear most teachers would ask their students to put the distracting device under their seats and take out their dated textbook. We would be wasting taxpayer funds if we bought devices ahead of providing high quality training and professional development for every teacher, even those teachers that score well on the use of technology in our current, technology-starved schools. We have to make the investment in our human capital if we want to leverage a large-scale technology investment. 


So can you help? This blog is meant to help "crowd source" an annotated bibliography that provides empirical support for the five points. Our goal is to move 54321 Michigan beyond a rant or response into action and we need to provide an evidence-based industry like public education with support that good things can and should be done.


Can you support the claim that every teacher needs to build the capacity to teach in digital learning environments with a citation and link to a resource? Then post a comment with that information. Please try to use APA if you can. Thank you!

2. Digital Content and Assessments

2. Digital Content and Assessments: A device in every kid’s hands and surplus broadband will free schools to think digitally, to stop pouring money into antiquated resources like textbooks, and to start using and producing rich, mobile education media that will truly transform education. Digital content will energize and enable anywhere, anytime, any way learning in schools and create the next generation of knowledge workers that are both consuming and producing content and leveraging “Crowd Accelerated Innovation” for their own education. On the assessment side, much is being done on the national level to develop and drive online assessments, but Michigan can do more. With smart investments, we can and should move all assessments into some format for electronic delivery. This will lower annual development and delivery costs and add instructional value by returning results to schools within weeks, not months. 


So can you help? This blog is meant to help "crowd source" an annotated bibliography that provides empirical support for the five points. Our goal is to move 54321 Michigan beyond a rant or response into action and we need to provide an evidence-based industry like public education with support that good things can and should be done.

Can you  support the claim that "every student needs access to high quality digital resources and real-time assessments" with a citation and link to a resource? Then post a comment with that information. Please try to use APA if you can. Thank you!

1. Innovative Models of Instruction

1. 21st Century Learning Environments: Michigan must declare that the era of drill-and-kill assessments and sit-and- click software substitutes is over. We need to refocus education on engaging each and every learner through rich, meaningful, rigorous learning opportunities with the goal of producing a 21st Century workforce. There are more opportunities than ever to create authentic learning environments where students can analyze, discover, debate, explore, solve, and understand. Engaged, lifelong learners are the types of employees every employer wants to hire; that is what our schools should be producing. By focusing on this learning outcome, we believe student achievement will increase for all students and a world class workforce will result.


 So can you help? This blog is meant to help "crowd source" an annotated bibliography that provides empirical support for the five points. Our goal is to move 54321 Michigan beyond a rant or response into action and we need to provide an evidence-based industry like public education with support that good things can and should be done.

Can support the claim that "every student needs to learn in environments that are engaging and designed for personalized, individualized learning" with a citation and link to a resource? Then post a comment with that information. Please try to use APA if you can. Thank you!