Digital Learning Now! national scorecards are out

Kentucky has a way to go

The progress of all 50 states on promoting digital learning has just been assessed by the national Digital Learning Now! organization headed by former governors Jeb Bush (Florida) and Bob Wise (West Virginia).

Each state was evaluated for performance on a total of 72 metrics from 10 major “Element” areas that concern good digital learning programs. My quick analysis of the Digital Learning Now! scorecard report web tool shows states met anywhere from a low of only 14 of the 72 metrics in California to a high of 49 in Utah.

Kentucky met 25 metrics, which tied us with Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee for 31st place for digital learning implementation.

Here is how we compared to a near-top ranked state, Florida (click on table to enlarge).


One thing that really hurt us was the absence of charter schools, which Digital Learning Now highly prizes. If we had charter schools in Kentucky, I think we’d have ranked MUCH higher.

Still, imaginative efforts like the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning, Kentucky’s totally on line digital learning high school, which I have discussed before, helped us to do better than we would have otherwise.

I know the Kentucky Department of Education is working hard on digital learning, and they are planning to release a report soon which will be used to launch even more innovations.

In the mean time, you can get an idea about the roadblocks to expanding digital learning in Kentucky by reading my recent report, “Digital Learning Now!: Obstacles to Implementation in Kentucky.”

This report will probably provide some important input into the final state plans.

You can get Digital Learning Now! report cards for Kentucky and other states by clicking here and then clicking on the state you want to examine.