The Baltimore-based investment firm's k-12 specialists have an unusual perspective on Senator Kennedy’s report on the connections between consultants like Edward Kame' ennui and the major publishing firms – one that doesn’t serve the investment community’s need for information and analysis all that well.   more »

Your editor can't remember too many times he has agreed with one of the Fordham Foundation's most important gadflies. Still, he owes Mike Petrilli one for telling Education Next's editors that they might consider asking yours truly to comment on an article about education technology providers. (This post includes what Ed Next edited down for inclusion and the original "long" version.")   more »

Judging from AEI’s insider confab, you’d never know there was an industry. This time, blame the wonks for their blind spot, but the industry bears responsibility too.   more »

Every corporate blog is part of the firm’s marketing operations. That doesn’t mean they aren't worth reading. Content analysis of posts and press releases often yields useful information on a provider’s values, priorities, fears and strategy.   more »

Understanding the “program” in program evaluation. School improvement providers who want to get a handle on program evaluation should read Education Week’s Debra Viadero’s May 16 article. To your editor it illustrates two important points on “what” exactly is being evaluated, and how “the what” affects evaluation outcomes.   more »

The firm's adrift. Will listening help all that much?   more »

The “pointy-tip of the spear” in public education is the classroom teacher. The implications for the school improvement industry?   more »

On top of so many other acquisitions relevant to k-12 the purchase of eCollege demonstrates that Pearson can buy major players in every segment of the new education industry. What’s next? What are the strategic issues?   more »

You can't understand the market for school improvement services without appreciating the a struggle between k-12's old and new industries.   more »

The evidence in his emails is unambiguous: While Kame' ennui was working for the Department as a key consultant on Reading First regulation and implementation - a matter that required not only the reality of impartiality but the appearance of impartiality – he was also engaged in high-level lobbying on behalf of Pearson’s corporate position on Reading First. It's a hell of a story. Plus a footnote.    more »

Quoting right-of-center Finn's defense of Reading First's peer review process in the "Political Risks" subsection of your business plan will do more to discourage investment than a thousand anti-privatization quotes from NEA's Reg Weaver.   more »

LAUSD’s study of SES providers’ performance begins to give us a sense of the likely contribution of tutoring to student achievement. Under the best conditions it is likely to be very small. The question then is value – results at a price. How should we price improvements in student performance? We still pay for inputs, but are starting to condition a provider’s right to remain eligible for the SES program on outcomes. Maybe we should pay for performance. So consider... how much should we pay for an average gain of three scale score points on the California Standards Test for English Lanuage Arts?   more »

Tutor.com has raised $13.5 million to expand its marketing activities for Tutor.com Direct. $9.5 million comes in the form of equity from a gruop led by Intel Capital, $4 million in secured debt. By the standards of the emerging school improvement industry, its a lot of money. Compared against the national market where Tutor.com operates it's not. The real question is how much founder and CEO George Cigale intends to grow the company, how fast and how.   more »

The big get bigger. So what? There are implications.   more »

The state's announcement and our earlier take on the effects of the move for the Big Easy and the City of Brotherly Love   more »

The reaction of Education Industry Association Executive Director Steve Pines more or less tracks what your editor suggested to expect from most SES providers. Read the response. Then let's deconstruct it. Then read TN SES study co-author Steve Ross' reaction.    more »

THIS IS NOT "JUST ANOTHER STUDY." It is a devastating evaluation of SES providers' value-added to student performance in Tennessee. It is not a death blow, but it is a body blow. The industry simply can't stand to repeat the finding "yielded no statistically reliable effects for any of the SES providers" next year. Whether SES providers' managers, boards and investors will take heed of the warning and act is an entirely different matter. Don't bet on it.   more »

Your editor started a k-12 information services firm because he was more confident in the school improvement industry than in any individual segment or firm. This month’s issue of Class Notes by Amy W. Junker and Neil Macker of stockbrokerage Robert W. Baird & Co., suggests investors would be much better off parking their money in an index fund based on the S&P 500. What they don't tell you is why.   more »

It's a summary of the available research on the market that's worth reading. As an "academic weapon" employed by the left in the "SES wars," the study is a failure. Still, that's just politics. From an investor's or buyer's perspective, the report suggests that when it comes to evaluation, most SES providers' management teams have been asleep at the wheel.    more »