Transforming Schools

Education next has a great article on transforming schools. The authors explain the current systems in historical context as organizations invest in innovation/technology and see no return on that investment. Schools everywhere are experiencing this and it is because we are trying to “cram innovation into the existing operating model” which never results in improvements.

They say that the innovation rarely ends up competing directly against the existing model. The new technology must grow in non-existing markets in order to disrupt the current model to create systemic change. This is already happening in education as online programs are getting students to finish their degrees, offering AP online, allowing rural districts to offer courses in high school that they never could offer, and offering online programs including SES online.

Our current educational structure is not serving our students well. Innovative use of technology will continue to progress on the fringes of current processes and eventually, it will cause a total disruption of our educational systems. Once that happens, we will finally get the improvements we need to compete in the global arena.

Organizations that are ready to accept that technology and embrace this change will be the ones that survive. It is a very exciting time to be in education. Read the article.