Most First Lego League teams start learning to code using Word Blocks. These colorful, puzzle-like pieces snap together with a simple drag-and-drop interface, making them approachable for beginners. You can quickly get a robot moving, and even begin to explore concepts like sensors. And Lego has a bunch of built-in lessons to get you going.

Solving an impossible problem with a top-notch team was too hard to pass up.

When robot competition calls, the Chicago Machine answers. How I built a robot for the first time and even survived to tell the tale

In the next few days, Chicago Public Schools will release its annual school quality ratings. But parents should know what goes into the rating so they can make an informed decision about school quality.

I’ve worked at software companies for the last 15 years, it’s time for a short break to refresh and get in touch with family and city.

Imagine a world where students receive immediate feedback that gives them confident direction on how to improve — yet teachers spend less time grading than they do today. Imagine if, instead of cranking through dozens of papers to discern how their class is doing, teachers receive a daily report on the strengths and weaknesses of their students. Teachers could use the extra time saved to address individual needs of their students one on one.

I've often seen products fail because they meet the needs of only a subset of the three key stakeholders: students, teachers, and administrators.

But for education technology companies, conventional metrics are insufficient. None of the standard measures of growth, engagement, financials directly measure student learning outcomes, and many education entrepreneurs have only a vague notion of exactly how their tools impact the students they serve. Why build a product for classrooms without knowing if it improves education and provides more learning opportunities to the students?

To have strong impact, you have to know what you’re measuring. I wanted to either join or possibly start a company that had a zealous focus on measured, mission-driven impact.