edbizbuzz
Public education’s core functions are teaching and learning, an endeavor in which private enterprise plays a growing role. Edbizbuzz was an opinion blog offering a perspective on this emerging school improvement industry. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
Opinion
Friday Guest Column: Don’t Rob “Poor” Peter to Pay “Poor” Paul
Redistributing resources from low-poverty schools to high-poverty schools through the reform of Title I’s comparability requirement should contribute to an important national priority: narrowing the achievement gap.
Education
Opinion
The Letter From: Political Risk, Political Action (April 5, 2004)
Successful investment in the school improvement industry depends on managing political risk, and every firm should be engaged with a trade group.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week (2): Expert Systems for High School Students’ Career Guidance
Over time, staff salaries will be traded for technology licenses.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week (1): Fans of Clayton Christensen Take Note
This is basic research, the source of all product development.
Education
Opinion
Friday Guest Column: Agreeing to Duck the Discussion about Profit
Unless the venture is owned by a virtual ATM machine, ‘Profit’ is an absolutely necessary component of both survival and growth – even for non-profit organizations! Profitable Non-profits? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Not really…what a normal business calls ‘retained earnings’, non-profits call ‘retained surplus’.
Education
Opinion
The Letter From: Reflections on My First BlogYear
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of blogging has been not knowing precisely where debate will lead, stumbling into the odd hornet’s nest, and finding myself in places I would not have considered to be education policy. It’s been a learning experience, and I plan to keep learning.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week: Is There a Business in Schoolyard Habitats?
School improvement providers on the lookout for grants they might leverage to market their programs. Here is an opportunity with a one-to-one dollar match - including in-kind contributions
Education
Opinion
The Temptation of McCarthyism - On the Left
I’ve written about the dangerous move towards McCarthyism Fordham's Mike Petrilli took asking AERA's board to boot former Weather Underground founder William Ayers as an “unrepentant terrorist.” There’s not much difference between that and implying that AEI's Frederick Hess is at best insensitive to issues of race, at worst a racist.
School & District Management
Opinion
Rhee-Visiting the District of Columbia Public Schools (IV)
This is one of the few chances the DC City Council will have to do get back in the school reform process without being seen as obstructing change or undermining the Chancellor. No one can argue against the need for independent evaluators free from the least taint of conflicts.
Education
Opinion
Friday Guest Column: Local DC Activists Protest Chancellor's Choice of Independent Evaluators To City Council
We are deeply disturbed at the Mayor's choice of Frederick Hess and
Kenneth Wong as unbiased, independent judges of the city's public
school reform.
School & District Management
Opinion
Rhee-Visiting the District of Columbia Public Schools (III)
The history of business turnarounds shows improvements in productivity are necessary. A workforce motivated by fear of loosing their jobs won’t get you there. What’s called for is loyalty to the leadership. This Chancellor is going to have a hard time gaining loyalty from DC’s teachers, and she can’t replace them all.
School & District Management
Opinion
Rhee-Visiting the District of Columbia Public Schools (II)
At the end of May 2008, her takeover formula is obvious: Break the will of institutions within the school system; demolish as much of the old culture as possible, take all the political flack up front; and prepare the ground for a new approach in the 2008-2009 school year.
School & District Management
Opinion
Rhee-Visiting the District of Columbia Public Schools (I)
I favor the application of market principles to public education. I do not support the “better, faster, cheaper” model of district centralization adopted by Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee, the strategy they have employed to put it place, or the Chancellor’s approach to the process.