Learning and Leading - September/October 2012

Here’s what other ISTE members had to say about this topic. Participate in our reader poll at iste.org/LL.

YES

72%

Online learning provides access to great teachers, great content, and any-time/anywhere learning, but only where states and districts allow such options to exist. Florida Virtual School (www.flvs. net) is an excellent example of a high-performing, scaled state virtual school that benefits from a performance-based policy set. But no other state could afford to replicate its success at this point. Creating quality options at scale for every student in the United States requires the investment, scalability, and discipline of private enterprise.

—Tom Vander Ark is an education advocate, adviser, and author of Getting Smart: How Personal Digital Learning Is Changing the World. He is founder and executive editor of Getting Smart and a partner in Learn Capital.

holders, but why would we pay the same for lower outcomes and accountability?

Unfortunately, these decisions have been made by policy-making legislators, many of whom have taken contributions from such companies, according to a 2010 New York Times article ( tinyurl.com/7kwdex2). Our schools have been sold for campaign contributions and stock market gains.

We can make a difference by voting for people who want reform, writing letters, attending school board meetings, and speaking up for our students. It’s our future that’s at stake.

—Jeff Piontek is a teacher, author, and international keynote speaker on education reform and 21st century skills. Read more at www.jeffpiontek.com.

Students Aren’t Commodities

A successful entrepeneur sold blueberry pies. Addressing a group of teachers, he suggested that if educators just followed his business lead, all kids would learn. An experienced teacher raised her hand. “Do you use the best blueberries in your pies?” she asked. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Well, we get all kinds of berries—some good, some not so good—and we have to teach them all,” she replied. “You can select. We can’t.” Most business people, like far too many educators, use the factory model of schools: cookie-cutter students riding the assembly-line conveyor belt to the end of the line.

Ralph Maltese, Educational Consultant Warminster, Pennsylvania, USA

Not Perfect, But Better

Many say schools can’t be operated effectively with a business model because they must accept every child. Publicly run schools have knowingly allowed millions of disadvantaged kids to drop out or graduate without the skills to succeed. Although some kids will continue to be without the parental support and/or cultural background to readily succeed, [under a business model] it would be a smaller number, and more resources would be expended toward realizing each child’s potential than public schools offer now.

Kent Harris, Independent E-Learning Professional Billings, Montana, USA

Plan for a Win-Win

Create an educational system that fits the future needs of corporations so there is opportunity for two-way communication. We’re changing so fast it’s hard to predict what we’ll need when the current students begin to get jobs. Both schools and corporations are so busy dealing with the challenges of today, I don’t see the planning for the future that happened when I was a child.

Rick Winter, Consultant Denver, Colorado, USA

The Times, They Are A-Changing

The nonprofit world has co-existed with capitalism for hundreds of years. But capitalism is changing from an old economic model to a new knowledge one based on sharing and collaborating.

Carolyn Fox, Parent Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Learn from Many Sources

Businesses tend to hold their workers more accountable for results [and meeting] consumers’ expectations (in this case, parents or students who are paying for their education). But to make a successful school, you need elements from various models: business, school, neighborhood, community, etc.

David Pham, Communications Specialist Atlanta, Georgia, USA

No Double Standards

I do not think for-profit institutions are held to the same set of evaluation criteria and standards for learning as their public counterparts. For-profit online schools that are taking public money should have the same expectations for student graduation rates, employment, etc., and should be accredited by the same organizations that public institutions use.

Andrew Topper, Associate Professor Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

How Ironic

Sure, why not? Look how well AIG, Enron, and other companies treated their employees and customers. Let’s make Bernie Madoff the secretary of education. Who needs educators running education when business leaders know so much more about what kids need? Commercial companies will adjust to a kids-first instead of profits-first philosophy. Businesses know how to succeed in today’s world—assembly lines, outsourcing, and convincing advertising. Just what schools need.

Dennis Harper, Founder/CEO, Generation YES Seattle, Washington, USA

Business Model Fail

When the charter school I worked for received a new board of trustees, they put in place a business model to run the school. Some of the board’s thinking was that teachers do not know how to run a school, and they needed to run it like they run their businesses. Decisions were made thinking not about what was best for the student, but how much money they could save on the deal. It was a disaster, the business-minded board members ended up leaving, and the teachers had to clean up the mess.