If Nicholas Negaoponte is really on the verge of selling his under $200 laptop to 19 states, it may not change school, but it will certainly change how we think about education.   more »

The idea that teachers are more like infantry soldiers or assembly line workers than health care professionals or athletics coaches - suggests that sudents are more like a faceless enemy or cars than unique people. The idea that the nation's largest and most diverse set of teachers and students is amenable to one best way is a form of arrogance bordering on idiocy.   more »

Where school partnerships are not working, a provider's only moral choice is to exit. But the high costs of finding partners demands close attention to the initial selection process. KIPP's decision is a sign of the whole school design provider's maturity.   more »

Let's start with EdNet's upcoming Impact Award, and then SIIA's Codies....   more »

What does it say? What does it really mean? An exercise in "content analysis."   more »

But the high school arena is fragmented by 50 states, and a host of other structural factors. Nothing like the test prep or online higher ed markets where one standardized offering can serve a national market. A nice business, yes. Highly scaleable, doubtful.   more »

Consultants working for the Department of Education and with states on the implementation of the program collectively benefited to the tune of $1 million by steering district purchases their way. The Justice Department is investigating criminal charges. Now maybe editors in the mainstream media will focus some journalistc resources on a story that speaks volumes about the sham passing for regulation of the school improvement industry.   more »

The better to deflect attention from the real problems: 1) people in positions of authority who either abused their public trust or were not competent to exercise it according to any reasonable standard of care; 2) the Department's utter incapacity to behave differently as the federal role in public education becomes one of fueling a school improvement industry, and 3) the Administration's lack of any strategy to turn the Department around so it can handle an emerging market implicit in No Child Left Behind.   more »

Any school improvement provider with a corporate culture committed to ongoing research as part of product development should be giving this trade group a careful look.   more »

Your editor deconstructs a press release. It happens to be this release, but it could have been any.   more »

A company that will lose its contract has a greater institutional incentive to make sure its employees do right by these wards of the state than any agency that monoplizes the function.   more »

The first question for the industry is whether this means the end of Edison in Philadelphia... and maybe time to sell off the company for parts and re-brand what's left. If you were a superintendent, would you propose the firm to your board?   more »

If you've got it (scientifically based research), flaunt it. But note as well that the standard of beauty is rising in this market. What's glamorous this year will soon seen quaint. Firms need to look beyond compliance with an evaluation requirement to the role of evaluation in program quality and ongoing development.   more »

Your editor did not plan on becoming a playing field for this contest, but Brian Gill - who led RAND's study of contract schools in Philadephia, has provided the thnk tank's response to Paul Peterson's critique.   more »

There is a potentially serious flaw in RAND's approach. School improvement program providers need to stop and think about whether the direction evaluation is taking is setting them up for mediocrity - or even asking the right question.   more »

The "evaluation wars" expand to school contracting.   more »

If the parent pays for the service, the typical story on the provider is generally positive. If the taxpayer foots the bill, the reporter generally casts the provider in a negative light.   more »

Today's announcement by RAND of a $6 million grant from the Department of Education for a "gold standard" review of Cargegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor is welcome, but industry leaders should not see it as a chance to buy time or kick the political can of evaluation down the road. The study is welcome, but it should also be mildly worrisome.   more »

There are three kinds of programs that embody Scientifically Based Research.... It's no surprise that while other firms are having a difficult time, Carnegie is adding sales staff.   more »

Is anyone other than a major publisher making (good) money? If you are, please let us know with a comment.   more »

Annual reports are not only a source of financial data, they offer insights to corporate self-image, perceptions of the business environment, strategy, and risk assessment. Its generally a good idea for even the smallest firms to understand the dominant players' view of the world.   more »

Prof. Richard Allington of the University of Tennesse at Knoxville, a Reading Recovery defender and former President of the International Reading Association asks the most important question in his remarks to Education Week on the program's postive rating by the Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse: “[A]re we going to take all the interventions off the Reading First Web sites that don’t meet the What Works criteria?... I don’t have a lot of confidence that anyone in Washington actually cares about the evidence.”... This is the point Cong. Miller needs to keep foremost in mind during the House education committee's upcoming hearings on Reading First.... And in the end, this question is the key issue for those betting on the school improvement industry as a good investment. The What Works' bar is pretty low, and if its results don't matter to the use of federal funds, the new firms can't compete against the established players or the unfettered discretion of department officials. Meaningful standards of performance are the only basis of their competive advantage. Remarkably, the research-driven providers have not organized themselves to bring their expertise to bear on this question.   more »

Every school improvement provider is not automatically viewed with scepticism by the press. The determining factor seems to be whether the firm is perceived to work within the system or against its constituencies.... It also helps when the firm is seen to have roots in education and research rather than business and finance. It also helps if the firm has made ongoing evaluation a priority.... If you are the CEO of a school improvement provider, or an investor, or a communications firm with these clients, the pattern deserves close study.   more »

Some educators seem happy with the testing firm.   more »

A clear warning to education research organization CEOs and boards.... For all practical purposes, when public education was a monopoly, they had one customer - government. Providing program evaluations, technical assistance to schools and districts, advisory services to agencies, and developing curriculum and instructional programs never raised conflict of interest issues. Instead, a broad range of competencies offered an advantage in competing with other research organizations for government business.... But being on all sides of the table is antithetical to the smooth operation of a market. Indeed in Reading First it was the cause of major financial loss for one provider - who has every reason to seek monetary compensation from the source of the harm. In Reading First and RMC, we have the case study of an organization caught between public education's pre- and post-market eras.... It's a warning to the CEOs and boards of this and other research organizations that conflicts of interest are now important. The federal education labs in particular should be considering how much of the "knowledge utilization" space each wants to occupy. If there is not a lawsuit this time around, there will be soon enough if old patterns don't change.... It's probably time for comprehensive board-intiated conflicts reviews. Moreover, properly done, these reviews are bound to lead some research organizations to shed or trade some lines of business and staff, and new operating constraints may lead some researchers to seek new homes for their work.    more »