The turmoil continues....   more »

Sometimes philanthropy is helpful to the point of buying our programs for schools. At other times, philanthropic intiatives compete with school improvement providers by offering districts "free" programs. At other times, they complicate the lives of firms with classroom initiatives that conflict with the specific kinds of support and cooperation providers need from their "partners" in the central office and classroom to achieve superior program results. In this case, how will the Kellogg Foundation]s $10 million grant to improve reading skills in Hawaii affect schools implementing America's Choice? Every, providers' local managers need to keep track of these "school reform" initiatives, so they don't come as a surprise degrading implementation and hence expected student outcomes.   more »

Here in the U.S., LightSpan - now part of PLATO, used the PlayStation system for a program sold into the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program market in the late 1990s. Not only did it leverage existing home gaming technology "simple enough for parents," but it deliberately engaged them in their children's education - building a level of parent support for a classroom-based literacy program this writer never saw before, and has not seen since. Can Sony repeat this?   more »

The distinction between the providers district like and dislike has very little to do with tax status, and almost everything to do with whether the provider competes with them for students or works for them with students. The school improvement industry needs the competitors to motivate the districts to do things differently - including buying the new providers' programs. But most individual school improvement providers will be far more profitable working with districts as partners than against them as adversaries.   more »