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 This blog is no longer being updated.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week (2)
For-profit firms in the school improvement industry should make the modest investment in the legal advice required to form an affiliated nonprofit.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week (1)
In the current environment, no school improvement provider should feel confident about selling their offerings in the same format tapping into the same funding streams. It’s time to repurpose content and diversify revenues. A “sustainability premium” attaches to new sales for new purposes drawing on new funding programs.
Education
Opinion
Market Concepts Haven't Made Much of an Inroad
I could swear I read something like this by Dr. Doyle in Ed Week or a similar publication when I began my transition at RAND from national security to public education with the end of the Cold War in 1989. If not by him, then someone equally well-known at the time.
Education
Opinion
Friday Guest Column: Making Redundancy a Value of Planning in Public Education
In our dynamic society, the digital world is a force for decentralization, creativity, and choice. The American way is to reject social engineering and rejoice in the multiple ways to skin a cat. Yet American public education has implemented technology in a manner reminiscent of Soviet Five Year Plans.
Education
Opinion
The Letter From: What is Accountability in the Public Education Market?
In public education accountability consists of standards, consequences and due process. Standards without consequences and due process amounts to reporting. Consequences without standards and due process is tyranny. Due process without standards and consequences defines a discussion group. If the purpose of accountability is to advance a social goal, all three elements must be present.
Education
Opinion
Friday Guest Column: Notes From The K12 Supplemental Market
Last Friday PLATO shares closed at $3.50. The... decline is more complex than being outmaneuvered... by... publishers. I believe it is the combination of a politicized buying process, decision-makers that are rewarded modestly for success yet punished severely for failure... that have... kept alternative content contained in the supplemental box.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week
Provide Program/Project Management services for implementation of a system for the NC Common Education Data Analysis and Reporting System (NC CEDARS) in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI).
Education
Opinion
Stuff Happens
Edbizbuzz readers please note.
Sunday night my DSL modem decided to stop working. I am finally connected and have caught up on my to do list. Expect several postings to follow.
Sunday night my DSL modem decided to stop working. I am finally connected and have caught up on my to do list. Expect several postings to follow.
Education
Opinion
What is "A Liberal"?
I'm what was once called a "Rockefeller Republican" or a "(Scoop) Jackson Democratic."
Education
Opinion
An Addendum to "Why Market-Based Reforms Don’t": What About Funding?
Finances are another external explanation for the marginal status of market based-reform. But like opposition, this is a factor beyond the control of reformers. The individual organizations that are reform movements and the organizations that purport to represent the movements haven’t done very well with the cash they have received.
Education
Opinion
The Letter From: Why Market-Based Reforms Don't
In my experience, market-based reform efforts do not realize their mainstream potential for three reasons.
School & District Management
Opinion
School Improvement RFP of the Week
In this market, school districts almost certainly can develop some kind of real estate opportunity for their teaching staff.
School & District Management
Opinion
The "Program Evaluation" Bar - Why Just for SES Providers?
Regulation based on Scientifically Based Research is not fundamentally a problem of capacity. It's one of interest.
Education
Opinion
NCLB II: The Liberal's Dilemma
For liberals, the political choice on NCLB is obvious – go along with the institutions. But the moral consequence of that choice can only haunt the conscience.