150 new grant and contract RFPs for organizations helping to make public education better.   more »

Caveat Emptor: One should take the attached pronouncement from an investment banking firm that helped take Educate (including its Supplementary Educational Service provider Catapult Learning) private, on a compilation of largely anectodal and qualitiative "good news" items prepared by the Education Industry Association, on behalf of its members in the SES business, and labeled as a "report" - with a grain of salt. It's just a bit self-serving all around. Frankly that assessment is preferrable to one that says Signal Hill is naive about the political risks associated with SES as part of NCLB, as implemented by the states, or as received by school districts, to say nothing of the considerable cost and other advantages that accrue to local providers able to risk very little while leaping exceptionally low barriers to entry. Asserting that SES "has always been among the most popular aspects of the law, and arguably the most secure" is a flight of fancy. At this time of NCLB reauthorization there is a good policy story about SES to be told, and spinning it as PR makes it that much harder to tell. And if that story isn't told?... Well there are thousands of ways in NCLB to make SES an unattractive investment. Please, let's stop acting like Pollyannas, get serious about facing the political risks in our market, and start talking about how we intend to work towards managing them.    more »