Entreneurship in education
On May 5, two unlikely partners--the progressive Center for American Progress and the somewhat short of progressive American Enterprise Institute--jointly sponsored a conference on a topic on which they could find common ground: entreneurship in education. Both organizations see the creative energy of educators who want to start charter schools as an essential spur to improving U.S. public education.
The featured speaker was Teach for America veteran and DC school superintendent Michelle Rhee, who demonstrated that becoming part of the education establishment has not softened her criticism of the status quo or reined in her desire for fundamental reform. In her mind the key virtue of the entrepreneurial charter schools is accountability; without it, no one has sufficient motivation to make education work. She makes no distinction between nonprofit and for-profit operators. Both can create excellent schools.
A video of the event and more information on the first-rate lineup of speakers can be found at
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/entrepreneurs_event.html
Larry Berger, CEO of Wireless Generation, which helps schools make effective use of new technology, deserves special attention. Like the other speakers, he sees innovative charter schools as an essential component of school improvement, but he also reminded the audience that a handful of excellent schools or inspired teachers will not be enough. He correctly pointed out that our problems begin with a dysfunction educational management system. The ability of a few schools to succeed by freeing themselves from the mainstream public schools should lead us to study how to restructure the delivery of education in a way that increases accountability, encourages creativity, and rewards success. It was not computers alone that boosted US economic productivity in the 1990s, it was the use of computers to help create new management and production systems. The same type of systemic change will be necessary to achieve a broad-based improvement in school performance.
The featured speaker was Teach for America veteran and DC school superintendent Michelle Rhee, who demonstrated that becoming part of the education establishment has not softened her criticism of the status quo or reined in her desire for fundamental reform. In her mind the key virtue of the entrepreneurial charter schools is accountability; without it, no one has sufficient motivation to make education work. She makes no distinction between nonprofit and for-profit operators. Both can create excellent schools.
A video of the event and more information on the first-rate lineup of speakers can be found at
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/entrepreneurs_event.html
Larry Berger, CEO of Wireless Generation, which helps schools make effective use of new technology, deserves special attention. Like the other speakers, he sees innovative charter schools as an essential component of school improvement, but he also reminded the audience that a handful of excellent schools or inspired teachers will not be enough. He correctly pointed out that our problems begin with a dysfunction educational management system. The ability of a few schools to succeed by freeing themselves from the mainstream public schools should lead us to study how to restructure the delivery of education in a way that increases accountability, encourages creativity, and rewards success. It was not computers alone that boosted US economic productivity in the 1990s, it was the use of computers to help create new management and production systems. The same type of systemic change will be necessary to achieve a broad-based improvement in school performance.
posted by Kevin Finneran at
7:26 PM
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