Michael B. Horn: Beyond Good and Evil: Understanding the Role of For-Profits in Education through the Theories of Disruptive Innovation

It is an argument that virtual education advocates hear over and over again: Applying open marketplace principals to K-12 education won't work because private corporations will put profits over the best interest of kids.
I hope my new report, written for the American Enterprise Institute, Beyond Good and Evil: Understanding the Role of For-Profits in Education through the Theories of Disruptive Innovation will put this misguided concept to rest.
Many in public education assume the worst about for-profit corporations, arguing that they are money-grabbing entities that will shortchange the public good if it means increased profits. Critics see no place for for-profit providers in American education. Supporters view for-profits as a force for good that can harness the profit motive to attract top talent and scale quality in public education. The government often perpetuates these divides by drawing lines in the sand of what activities companies can and cannot do based on their corporate structures. Despite these views on for-profits, however, the reality is different. Policymakers, officials, providers, and other members of the debate would do well to keep three key points in mind:

• First, for-profit companies are not inherently good or evil. Rather, these companies do what their customers offer incentives to do--not much more or less.



• Second, there are far fewer inherent and predetermined differences between for-profit companies and their nonprofit counterparts than many assume. Both for-profits and nonprofits have business models, and there are many examples of corrupt nonprofits.



• Third, the biggest inherent differences between for-profits and nonprofits stem from their fundamental corporate structures, which determine what they do with their profits--and thus affect their ability to attract capital and scale--as well as what opportunities look attractive.

Online learning advocates regularly have to wade through the misconceptions about for-profit education companies. But the K–12 online learning world presents have prime examples of what works. Two of the more successful companies, K12 Inc. and Connections Academy, are highly motivated to do the jobs that their customers pay them to do and deliver a quality education.
Click here to read more about my report, and for a link to a pdf of the complete report.

Guest Commentary: Blended Learning is the Best of Both World for Colorado Students

The Colorado Department of Education has a duty to fulfill the responsibilities set out for it in rules pertaining to online learning.
That's one of the conclusions of a wide-ranging report on the current status, and the future, of online learning in Colorado.
The report was written by the Denver-based Donnell-Kay Foundation as a way to show where Colorado stands "in terms of its digital and online offerings for public school students."
The report also discusses "why a shift to a blended model of learning that combines face to face, online and digital learning, is an important next move for Colorado."
The report is full of examples of current K-12 digital learning program in Colorado. It also offers a number of suggestions and policy recommendations to enhance growth of online learning in the state.
One of the suggestions in the report is to offer financial incentives to districts with established online and blended learning programs to expand these programs and partner with other districts and schools. Another idea is to attract education entrepreneurs to Colorado with start-up funding to develop digital and blended learning programs.
"We believe that this expansion of digital and online learning will begin to alleviate significant inequities that exist within our system today between students who have access to high quality teachers and a diverse array of courses and schools and those who lack such access because they live in communities that struggle to attract talent or lack the resources to provide the variety of options that a wealthier or larger district can offer," the report added.
Click here for the complete report.
Click here for an interview with Amy Berk Anderson, director of Strategic Partnerships at the Donnell-Kay Foundation.

Guest Commentary: Terry M. Moe's book is one to savor

In a short review of Terry M. Moe's new book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools, Chester E. Finn writes that this a definitely a book that needs to be widely read.
"Hot off the Brookings Institution press is Terry Moe's magnum opus on teacher unions. Magnum, indeed (at 500-plus pages), it's deeply informative, profoundly insightful, fundamentally depressing, and yet ultimately somewhat hopeful about an educational future that unions won't be able to block—though they'll try hard—due to the combined forces of technology and changing politics," Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and chairman of the Hoover Institution's Koret K-12 Education Task Force, writes on The Education Gadfly blog.
"Insights along the way—and there are many—include the gaps between teachers and their union leaders, the false promise of 'reform unionism,' the strength of union influence even where there's no collective bargaining, the many faces of Randi Weingarten, and the mixed bag that is Race to the Top. This is a book you'll want for your shelf and, one hopes, a book you’ll actually read and savor and learn from."
Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Guest Commentary: Jeb Bush on Disrupting the Educational Status Quo

What's tops Jeb Bush's educational reform list?
"Applying digital learning as a transformative tool to disrupt the public education system, to make it more child-centered, more customized, more robust, more diverse, and more exciting," says the former Florida governor and co-founder of Digital Learning Now, a national advocacy group focused on advancing policies to create quality digital learning environments.
Bush sat down with a reporter from Reason magazine and talked about the virtual education movement, the obstacles to widespread acceptance of online classes, and his role in evangelizing for digital education.
Click here for a sneak peek of the May 2011 issue of Reason, which features the Bush interview.

Guest Commentary: Planting the Seeds of Online Learning in California

Brian Bridges is director of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN), a group that helps the state's educators identify electronic learning resources. He is also a member of the Computer-Using Educators (CUE) board of directors.
In a recent post on his blog, Bridges spotlights several bills in the California legislature that would help increase the number of online education opportunities for the state's students.
AB 802 would allow school districts to "capture" state money for students who take online courses sponsored by that district.
Bridges also writes about SB 613, which would encourage school districts to use open source textbooks.
Finally, SB 532 would mandate that all high schools students have access Advanced Placement courses. The logical way to meet this mandate would be through online courses.
While Bridges likes parts of SB 532, he has suggestions on how to improve the legislation to make it more virtual education friendly.
Click here to read his complete post.

Guest Commentary: Planting the Seeds of Online Learning in California

Brian Bridges is director of the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN), a group that provides resources to help California educators with digital education resources. He is also a member of the Computer-Using Educators (CUE) board of directors.
In a recent post on his blog, Bridges spotlighted legislation now in the California legislature that would help increase the number of online education opportunities for the state's students.
AB 802 would allow school districts to "capture" state money for students who take online courses sponsored by that district.
Bridges also writes about SB 613, which would encourage school districts to use open source textbooks.
Finally, SB 532 would mandate that all high schools students have access Advanced Placement courses. The logical way to meet this mandate would be through online courses.
While Bridges likes parts of SB 532, he has suggestions on how to improve the legislation to make it more virtual education friendly.
Click here to read his complete post.

Terry M. Moe: Government, Markets, and the Mixed Model of American Education Reform

Paul T. Hill, the John and Marguerite Corbally professor of Public Affairs at the University of Washington-Bothell, director of the Center of Reinventing Public Education, and a colleague on the Hoover Institution's Koret K-12 Education Task Force, and I co-authored an essay for Education Week's blog "The Futures of School Reform."
Our article is part of a series written by members of a working group organized by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The group's goal is to seek "seeking to engage a wider audience in an “urgent” conversation—one that it hopes can advance the national dialogue on improving public education for all children."
Over the next few weeks, Education Week will run essays from the group.
In our essay, Hill and I call for a new education model, one that has "different mixes" that meet the needs of "different states and communities, depending on their distinctive values, concerns, and local conditions."
Here are some highlights from our article:
-- The current system of district-run schools can simply be left in place, but required to compete for children and money in a much larger marketplace of educational options.
-- A core rule is that money should follow the child (with more resources attached to the disadvantaged) and flow to the school of the family’s choosing.
-- Policy rules should encourage the proliferation of new educational options, chief among them (for now) charter schools—with no ceilings on their numbers or enrollments, funding equal to that of district schools, access to buildings and seed grants, the right of for-profit firms to manage them, and no requirement that they be unionized.
-- States should open the marketplace to online learning and the new forms of schooling that offer it: virtual charters, blended (hybrid) schools, state-led virtual schools, and more—which may enroll “whole” students taking full curricula or just “parts” of students taking a few courses.
Click here to read the entire essay.
Click here to learn more about my new book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Tom Vander Ark: Smart Online Strategy Beats Dumb Cuts

The Washington state Senate is threatening 10% cuts to reimbursement rates for online learning, the House 20%.
Budget cutting is an understandable reality this year, but this provision is odd because the state won’t save any money. If online options aren’t available, kids will just go back to more expensive brick and mortar schools. The cuts may close a handful of online schools and that may drive some families back to unaffiliated home education—potentially a few million dollars, but certainly not worth the price of reducing learning options for all Washington students.
Some folks think online schools should get less money because they don’t have buildings or buses—but they already operate at a 25% savings to Washington’s traditional schools. Without charter schools, online learning providers in Washington contract with local districts, and they typically don’t receive any local levy funding.
Click here to read more on what's going on in Washington state and how a smart online strategy can beat dumb budget cuts.

Terry M. Moe: My Discussion with Radio Talk Show Host John Batchelor About the Power of Teachers Unions

Earlier this month, I was interviewed by John Batchelor on his nationally syndicated radio show. The topic: the political confrontation between the governors and teachers unions.
My latest book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools provides context and background to this fight, which will be ongoing for some time.
What can get us out the the current mess? The revolution in information technology. Virtual education, be it in a blended learning environment or as part of a home-school program, is a game-changers, especially when it come to the power of teachers unions.
Click here to listen to my conversation with John Batchelor (my part of the program starts at the 29.25 point in the podcast).
Click here to learn more about my book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Guest Commentary: Parent of Oregon Virtual Ed. student says 'Let Our Children Go'

My son attends the Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA) "to fulfill his academic range of four different elementary and middle school grade levels in the same school year," David Atman wrote in the Oregon Register Guard.
He is " ' a special needs' seventh-grade student — catching up in sixth-grade English, fifth-grade math and fourth-grade history and art — or a talented-and-gifted fourth-grader accelerating his studies with fifth-grade math, sixth-grade English and seventh-grade science, four different grade levels in one year, half in middle school and half in elementary school, is cumbersome at best, and probably impossible in most public or private brick and mortar schools," Atman continued.
Atman added that there are many more reasons for choosing virtual schools exist.
Yet, he continued, some in Oregon have problems with expanding virtual education opportunities and making it easier for parents to guide their children to online opportunities.
Oregon’s Senate Bill 927, being discussed in Salem , ignores the recommendations in the report made by the state Board of Education, which was mandated by the Legislature in House Bill 3660 to give a virtual-school game plan to politicians, Atman wrote.
SB 927, as written, would close the existing two public virtual schools, would create a new administrative agency and take choice away from parents, he added.
Click here to read what Atman and other Oregon parents would like to see the Oregon legislature do to allow their children to go to virtual schools.

Guest Commentary: Florida Today on a Principal Who Wants to Use Virt. Ed. to Help Students

The Editorial Board of Florida Today believes Jackie Pons, superintendent of schools in Leon County, understand that embracing virtual education is the way to get in front of change. "He's already anticipating that state spending will be reduced between $10 million and $14 million for Leon County Schools. And he's also keeping a keen eye on legislation that would require Florida students entering ninth grade this fall to take at least one online course before graduation," the editorial board writes "Mr. Pons is correct in floating options now that would keep instructional costs under control while providing students with as many ways possible to broaden their class choices. Online instruction is logically among them," the editorial continues. Click here to read the complete editorial and find out how the Leon County schools chief wants to implement online learning sooner rather than later.

Tom Vander Ark: Changing the Learning Curve

Dwight Jones has a dilemma but he sees it as an opportunity. Facing drastic budget cuts in Clark County, the fifth largest district in the country, superintendent Jones invited the board of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) to visit with him management team to discuss strategies for boosting learning and operating productivity. Jones has a great background for facing this new challenge. He previously served as the Commissioner of Education for Colorado. He helped introduce new learning models in Colorado and has brought his optimistic perspective to his new role in Las Vegas. I share superintendent Jones’ optimism. While the immediate challenges are grim, the future is bright. Personal digital learning is changing the way the world learns. Informal learning—Wikipedia, search, peer-to-peer sites, and tutorials—is making it easier for anyone to learn anything. In schools, learning is getting more personalized, more engaging, and more online. These three benefits—customization, motivation, and equalization—are changing the learning curve by helping students learn more faster. Click here to read more of my post on the challenges Clark County schools chief Jones faces and the role digital learning plays in solving them.

Terry M. Moe: Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools

A number of smart people got advanced copies of my latest book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools. They had many insights and said a lot of nice things. Eric Hanushek, my colleague at the Hoover Institution and on the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education wrote that the book, "shines a bright light on perhaps the most under-researched topic in all of education policy. This is a theoretical and empirical tour de force, revealing what makes the teachers unions tick and why they are absolutely central to any discussions of education reform." Joel Klein, CEO of News Corp. Education Division and former Chancellor of New York City Public Schools said that in this "bare-knuckled and brilliant account" the book "shows how the teachers unions use their unmatched political power to control virtually every aspect of educational policy and practice. The result, not surprisingly, is a system that protects the interests of employees at the expense of our kids. Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Guest Commentary: Chris Dede--21st Century Education Requires Lifewide Learning

Christopher Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard Graduate School of Education. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. He, along with other members of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, took over Education Week's "The Future of School Reform" blog to post their viewpoints. In his post, Dede writes, "Educational transformation is coming not because of the increasing ineffectiveness of schools in meeting society's needs - through that is certainly a good reason - but due to their growing unaffordability." "New media are at the heart of innovative models for education: empowering new forms of learning and teaching while simultaneously contributing to the obsolescence of traditional schools/universities as educational vehicles," he continues. "In the past five years, social media, immersive interfaces from the entertainment industry, and ubiquitous mobile broadband devices have coalesced in powerful ways to empower and integrate learning in and out of school. Too often, I have seen educational technologies used to put "old wine in new bottles." Now, if we seize the moment, we not only can have new wine - such as peer mentoring anytime, anyplace - but also can move beyond the "bottle" of the stand-alone school, he adds. Click here to read his complete post.

Guest Commentary: Anniston, Ala. Star--Grading Online Learning

We don't know. That's the bottom line from the Anniston, Ala. Star Editorial Board on virtual education. They see change coming, but they aren't they just know what to think. "Today’s students learn online. They learn about what their friends are doing through Facebook. They get the latest songs though iTunes. They connect with each other and with information outlets without leaving home or, for that matter, leaving their seats.To them, the idea of online learning seems natural," writes the editorial board. "Is this the best way to teach traditional courses in our public schools? The answer: We don’t know," the editorial continues. Click here to read more about the quandary these Alabama editorial writers find themselves in because of the virtual education movement.

Terry M. Moe: 'Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools'

Why are America's public schools falling so short of the mark in education the nation's children? Why are they organized in ineffective ways that fly in the face of common sense, to the point that it is virtually impossible to get even the worst teachers out of the classroom? And why, after more than a quarter century of costly education reform, have the schools proven so resistant to change and so difficult to improve? In my new book, Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools (Brookings) I demonstrate that the answers to these questions have a great deal to do with teachers unions--which are by far the most powerful force in American education and use their power to promote their own special interests at the expense of what is best for kids. Despite their importance, the teachers unions have barely been studied. Special Interest fills the gap with strong analysis. I shed new light on their historical rise to power, the organizational foundations of that power, the ways it is exercised in collective bargaining and politics, and its vast consequences for American education. The bottom line is simple but devastating: as long as the teachers unions remain powerful, the nation's schools will never be organized to provide kids with the most effective education possible. Click here to learn more about Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.

Guest Commentary: Free Market Competition for Online Students? FLVS Chief Says, 'Bring It On'

What happens when disruptive innovation disrupts an innovator? That's one of the conundrums facing Florida legislators as they debate the future of SB 1620. Simply put, SB 1620 would create virtual charter schools, let students sign up for the online courses with or without the school districts' permission and allow companies anywhere in the world provide online courses to children in kindergarten through high school. Currently virtual education in Florida is provided by the public Florida Virtual School, which offers middle and high school classes, and six private vendors that districts can contract with. Districts also can create their own virtual programs. Students must go through the district to sign up for the classes. SB 1620 would require the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) to offer full-time classes from K-12 and allow students to sign up directly with vendors approved by the state education department. There are some in Florida who, in other instances, would be supportive of SB 1620, but are conflicted. They do not want to do harm to the venerable FLVS. The Florida Virtual School was founded in 1997 and was the first state-led virtual school in the U.S. It is currently the nation's largest state-led virtual school serving more than 90,000 student in the 2009-2010 school year. Not to worry, says Julie Young, FLVS's president and chief executive. “We feel like that every program is different and has its own personality, and parents and students will choose what’s best for them,” said Young. “I think it’s good.” Click here to read more about Young's thoughts on SB 1620.

Guest Commentary: A Pedagogical Divide in the World of Digital Learning

Paul E. Peterson is the editor of Education Next, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a member of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education, and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard. In a recent post on the Education Next blog, Peterson reported on a three-day Harvard conference that addresses virtual education issues. "If one flies over the digital world at 5,000 feet, one sees a grand consensus forming. As compared to the high school of today, digital learning is more efficient, more effective, more customized, and more in tune with the young people of the 21st Century. On that, digital enthusiasts from whatever part of the political spectrum can agree," Peterson wrote. "But when walking through the virtual forest, one stumbles up and down many an ancient pedagogical divide. For some (put me on this right-hand side of the canyon), digital learning provides advanced students with the opportunity to learn challenging materials at an early age, and students with limited backgrounds an opportunity to learn at the pace appropriate to their skill level, and all students a chance to learn at any time, any place, take any path, at any pace, as the motto of Florida Virtual School puts it," he continued. "But for others (on the left-hand side of the canyon), digital learning is not about learning fractions, long division, Mandarin, chemistry or calculus. It is about cooperating with diverse groups of students from across the globe, playing games, and creating new things. Through such unstructured activities, a student will acquire the 21st Century skills of creativity, openness, playfulness, and cooperation," he added. Click here to read his complete post.

Tom Vander Ark: The Politics of Education Innovation

The best advocate for kids in America, Joel Klein, former NYC chancellor, closed the ASU Education Innovation Summit. Klein is convinced that education is the most important issue this country faces and that the fountain of incrementalism won’t work for our kids or our nation. A few months into his new role at News Corp, Joel opened his discussion with Marguerite Kondracke, president and chief executive of the America’s Promise Alliance with three observations. Click here to read his response and more about the ASU conference.

Guest Commentary: Oklahoman Editorial says 'Online Courses Should be Part of Education Mix'

Like so many states, Oklahoma policymakers are looking for a strategy to wisely expand the number of K-12 online education opportunities for the state's students. That's why it is significant that the editorial board of the state's leading news source declared its strong support for virtual education. "If school districts across Oklahoma aren't thinking about offering online classes, then they're out of step with today's digital world. It's one more way to reach students, particularly those who have gotten behind, need enrichment or have some other reason for needing a nontraditional approach to schooling. Failure to acknowledge this evolving approach could leave traditional districts out in the virtual cold." Click here to read the complete editorial.

Michael B. Horn: Is there a K-12 Online Learning 'Bubble'?

For several years now I have been an unabashed promoter of online learning as a disruptive innovation with the potential to transform our education system from a monolithic one to a student-centric one that personalizes for different student needs. I still believe that. But in the short term, there does appear to be a bit of a “bubble” developing around innovation in education—be it in online learning products and services, blended-learning schools, and the like. Click here to read my complete post on this subject. Bottom line: I remain bullish on this field in general and excited about the investment in education companies, but there does need to be some caution in the days ahead because all too often quality—as measured in actual student results and a lasting and real business model—is not there.

Guest Commentary: Michael Van Beek--Virtual Learning Works for Many Students

Micahel Van Beek is director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich., and author of a new study titled “Virtual Learning in Michigan's Schools.” In a recent op-ed in the Detroit Free Press, Van Beek wrote explained how virtual education can work for students of all stripes. "The two most significant factors contributing to student achievement are related to socio-economic status and teacher quality," Van Beek wrote. "In large part, these are determined by factors outside of an individual student’s control. Fortunately, virtual learning, a phenomenon that’s rapidly expanding, can break down these age-old barriers. "But perhaps the greatest advantage of online learning is that it enables students to transcend the circumstantial limits they face based on where and to whom they were born," Van Beek continued. "Students in the most impoverished neighborhood can learn from the same teacher and material that’s available to students from the wealthiest community." Click here to read his entire column.

Guest Commentary: Customized Schooling: Beyond Whole-School Reform

The widely-anticipated book by Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Olivia Meeks, a research assistant at AEI, Customized Schooling: Beyond Whole-School Reform, is just about to hit to bookshelves, the e-book readers, and the tablets. The impact of virtual education on the future of education is at the center of their theories. In an article for AEI's Outlook, Hess and Meeks stress three key points from Customized Schooling.

• The "whole school" approach to education reform has made it difficult for specialty education providers to get past bureaucratic rules.


• "Unbundling" education means offering students an assortment of services instead of an indivisible package of "education."


• Virtual schooling and customized educational tools are breaking the whole-school model.

Click here for more from Hess and Meek's Outlook article and a sneak peek at their new book.

Guest Commentary: Using Cell Phones in Schools--We Have to Take the First Step

Bill Ferriter teaches 6th grade language arts in North Carolina. He is an advocate of using mobile devices--smartphones, iPod Touches, etc.,-- in school. What's more, he says educators can't wait until every one of their students has a mobile computing device in order to make use of these devices part of the curriculum. Why? "One of the stumbling blocks to almost every reform initiative in schools is our stubborn refusal to move forward until the conditions are perfect for change. The result: Change never happens," Ferriter writes. "I don't care if 1 out of 10 students in your school has a cell phone. That's still one more device for learning than your teachers had before--and it is one more tool for learning that many schools don't have to provide," he adds. Click here to read Ferriter's complete post which was written for The Teacher Leaders Network (h/t MindShift).

Guest Commentary: Redefine Teachers as Learning Designers

Paul Bogdan was an old-fashioned lecturing, teacher-centered, secondary math teacher who left teaching for 14 years to build computer systems. He has come back and is reborn as a student-centered teacher trying to make a difference and trying to figure out what works in today’s classroom. In a post on the Edutopia blog, Bogdan described why he, and others, need to change their classroom strategies. "Education in our middle schools and high schools these days is rapidly changing. The old notion of a classroom where the students are sitting quietly and neatly in their seats, while the teacher is up front pouring pearls of wisdom and knowledge into their brains is absurd," he writes. "Reality in the 21st century is quite a different story. Students seem to know that once a teacher stands up in front of the room and starts 'teaching,' not only is their life going to get very boring very quickly, the end result will be that there will be more quizzes and tests to fail and more opportunities to end up feeling dumber and dumber. So, how do they cope? They text their friends or get some sleep, or interrupt the teacher with a myriad of cleverly constructed distractions. The teacher who intends to stand in front of a high school or middle school class and 'teach' is in a constant battle. "Are teachers obsolete?" he continues. "Absolutely not. But, an educator's role is changing from the traditional 'imparter of knowledge' to that of coach and consultant. There are many exciting examples of successful strategies and programs in which the students are not only allowed, but encouraged and required, to take responsibility for much more of their learning than ever before." Click here to read more of Bogdan post which included links to essays on include digital teaching methods as part of the 21st century learning environment.