Tom Vander Ark is author of Getting Smart, Smart Cities, and Smart Parents. He is CEO of Getting Smart, a learning design firm and a partner at Learn Capital an education venture fund. Tom advocates for innovations that customize and motivate learning and extend access. Previously he served as the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Tom served as a public school superintendent in Washington State and has extensive private sector experience.   Tom is Board Chair of Charter Board Partners, Director for 4.0 Schools, Bloomboard, Digital Learning Institute, eduInnovation and Imagination Foundation, and serves on several other non-profit boards.

   Harmony Public Schools was invited to present alongside Getting Smart and Buck Institute at the annual iNACOL Blended and Online Learning Symposium this past October hosted at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. During the session “Preparing Students for A Next-Gen, Project Based World,” a group of Harmony students were also in attendance to bring student voice to PBL, and share their experiences at Harmony and how project-based learning is preparing them for tomorrow. During the symposium, leaders from Buck Institute for Education (BIE) and Getting Smart spent an entire afternoon visiting Harmony Science Academy San Antonio and talking to students and teachers in our project based classrooms.