Report highlights private-sector innovation in education

As schools face uncertain budget times and rapidly changing economic and technological forces, education leaders are turning to new approaches to schooling, prompting what could become a major shift in how K-12 education is organized and delivered.

As schools face uncertain budget times and rapidly changing economic and technological forces, education leaders are turning to new approaches to schooling, prompting what could become a major shift in how K-12 education is organized and delivered.

A new report released yesterday by Education Week magazine, “Accelerating Innovation: New Companies and Initiatives Bet on Transforming K-12,” examines the growth of education start-up companies in the past few years, the reasons many fail while others succeed and the lessons traditional public schools can learn from charters.

The report also points to concerns among business leaders and educators that, despite vibrant pockets of K-12 innovation, pre-collegiate education has been slower than other sectors of the economy to embrace new ways of doing things.

“When you look at how much faster innovation happens in other sectors than it does in education, I always wonder why we are such a laggard,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview with Education Week.

With support provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the initiative is part of a new “Industry and Innovation” project launched by Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit publisher of Education Week, to chronicle the business side of K-12 education.

As schools face uncertain budget times and rapidly changing economic and technological forces, education leaders are turning to new approaches to schooling, prompting what could become a major shift in how K-12 education is organized and delivered.

A new report released yesterday by Education Week magazine, “Accelerating Innovation: New Companies and Initiatives Bet on Transforming K-12,” examines the growth of education start-up companies in the past few years, the reasons many fail while others succeed and the lessons traditional public schools can learn from charters.

The report also points to concerns among business leaders and educators that, despite vibrant pockets of K-12 innovation, pre-collegiate education has been slower than other sectors of the economy to embrace new ways of doing things.

“When you look at how much faster innovation happens in other sectors than it does in education, I always wonder why we are such a laggard,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview with Education Week.

With support provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the initiative is part of a new “Industry and Innovation” project launched by Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit publisher of Education Week, to chronicle the business side of K-12 education.

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