Not unless you have friends in high places, can recover your customer acquisition costs quickly or the switching costs from your offerings are very prohibitive.   more »

1) If we knew now what we didn’t know then about the influence of tutoring on student proficiency.… 2) The school improvement industry's reputation for quality is no higher than its lowest quality provider....   more »

Pay me now or pay me more later.   more »

Blessing a "race to the bottom" or making the case for national standards?   more »

What can school improvement providers learn from their experience with Paul Vallas? Should Edison or Victory Schools follow him to New Orleans?   more »

Do you?   more »

Superintendents and Chancellors don’t turn school districts around – that's the job of principals and teachers. What they do is establish conditions that make turn-around more likely – budgets, infrastructure, incentives, empowerment, buy-in, and accountability. Michelle Rhee has a record of some sucess in teacher development, but she is not being hired to improve DC's teaching force, she's supposed to manage the district. Can she? Will she?   more »

Here’s where we need to draw the ethical line. It's not the size of the bribe that matters, but breaching the duty of loyalty to students, teachers and taxpayers.   more »

Assignment: Read SES provider spokesperson and Education Industry Association President Steve Pines’ letter to the Chicago Sun Times discussing the poor showing of most local SES providers on state tests. Then read the letter of the law. Identify the gaps and overlaps. Discuss the implications for SES providers and the broader school improvement industry in NCLB reauthorization.....    more »