Here is what most civic leaders get wrong in education strategy:
1.Over reliance on superintendent, under reliance on non-profit sector.
2.Too much energy spent on union contract, not enough energy spent on teacher pipelines.
3.Too much sweat spent on school improvement, not enough sweat spent on school creation.
4.Too much time spent on public meetings, not enough time spent empowering, organizing, and mobilizing families.
In Sum:
Weak Strategy: Invest in getting a “rockstar” superintendent to renegotiate the union contract and provide instructional supports to schools, and then hold public meetings to tell people what you’re going to do.
Better Strategy: Invest in non-profit leaders to start and scale schools, and couple this work with an enormous effort to develop and grow educator pipelines, all the while empowering families to be able to demand the schools they want and deserve.
Interesting idea, but I don’t know that nonprofit effectiveness is any greater than district effectiveness — many nonprofits seem to become captured by districts that they rely on for referrals and revenue. What’s the evidence nonprofits can do it better?
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Evidence on urban charters is pretty compelling.
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