Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Vendors’ Quality is Crucial Factor in Discussion of Privatization

May 21, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Your recent Industry & Innovation Special Report (April 24, 2013) raised a critical issue about the privatization of public education.

Improvement needs in states and districts often exceed the organizational capacity, and, increasingly, private organizations—vendors—receive contracts to design and implement policy-mandated programs. This form of privatization is increasingly acknowledged and debated.

However, there is limited discussion of the quality of services provided or the evidence base underlying them, in spite of expectations of evidence-based decisionmaking and practice. That discussion should be part of the public dialogue, as vendors are positioned to have a significant impact on what happens in schools.

Quality matters, and attention needs to be paid to whether the services implemented are likely to improve teaching and learning. Delaware, one of the first of the federal Race to the Top winners, mandates that proposals from vendors include discussion of the “evidence of effectiveness” and the “research base for your chosen methodology.” Laudably, this section of the application carries the greatest weight in the scoring of proposals.

The extent to which education agencies’ approach to the request-for-proposal process incorporate demands for research use communicates the value of research, commitment to evidence-based practice, and expectations for quality. Services purchased to support our schools ought to be grounded in evidence that implementation will improve teaching and learning.

In my research, I have found that not all vendors draw on research or other evidence, nor do they rely on a common body of evidence in designing services. This is a red flag when investing in vendors, as the likelihood of desired outcomes is unknown.

As we debate the issue of privatization in public education, these issues of quality should be central to the conversation. Through that dialogue, we can improve the quality of both the process of acquiring services and the services themselves.

Elizabeth Farley-Ripple

Assistant Professor

School of Education

University of Delaware

Newark, Del.

A version of this article appeared in the May 22, 2013 edition of Education Week as Vendors’ Quality Is Crucial Factor In Discussion of Privatization

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: October 11, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 27, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 20, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week