One of the interesting education debates is around the issue
of "innovation" - what is it? What is the role of the federal
government, foundation community, and private capital markets? How does
regulation inhibit innovative solutions and discourage private capital
investments? What are the best - and most appropriate - policy levers the
Federal government can employ to engage education entrepreneurs on some of our
nation's most pressing education challenges?
The Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation Fund competitions represented an unprecedented federal investment in supporting innovation and creative reforms. However, they also stirred debate around the role of for-profits vs. non-profit solution providers and if there was a more pressing need for start-up funding or scale up funding.
The sector has seen also seen a number of organizations helping to scale and incubate innovative start-ups. New School Venture Fund is raising another round of funding and continues to help scale promising human capital and charter organizations. STARTL, backed with foundation funding, is exploring how to accelerate and scale education innovation. Doug Lynch at the University of Pennsylvania has convened a number of leading non-profits and for-profits to explore new approaches to education, including hosting an education business plan competition. ASU and NeXtAdvisors recently held an Education Innovation Summit that attracted 200 organizations, including 53 companies. One of the keynote addresses was provided by Silicon Valley legend Reed Hastings who discussed his acquisition of DreamBox Learning. News Corps recently acquired Wireless Generation, capping a year in which we saw unprecedented private equity interest in the education sector.
We asked our Insiders a number of questions
around where innovation is most needed, the greatest barriers to the effective
use of technology, which arguments are the most compelling for online learning,
and how effective they believe some federal programs are in terms of improving
education. We also asked for their opinions on the recommendations
released by the Digital Learning Council and the National Education Technology
Plan, including how they might prompt state and federal policy action.
We also added a new element to this month's survey. Working with the Aspen Institute, we asked some of the same questions to the Aspen Institute's Education Innovation Forum's participants. This allowed us to compare the "insider" view to those outside the Beltway. In some areas, there was agreement but in others, a surprising disconnect. Read more
