Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 8/5/2007
Fueling Educational Entrepreneurship Addressing the Human Capital Challenge
2007 June
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract
In October 2006, the American Enterprise Institute convened a meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss what might be done to grow the human capital pipeline to support entrepreneurship in K–12 education. Participants included foundation officers, educational entrepreneurs, and policy analysts. While the gathering did not seek to formulate any grand consensus or blueprint, the authors hope that the following summary will spark further discussion and action on this critical issues in education reform.
Over the last two decades, there has been a surge in public policies seeking to give low-income families more choice about where to send their children to school. These changes in policy have both reflected and accommodated an influx of new educational providers, including school operators, technology firms, back-office service providers, tutors, and recruiting and hiring organizations. Particularly noticeable has been the creation of new schooling options, especially charter schools, but also private schools funded with public scholarships. In some places, like Washington, D.C.; Dayton, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, these new options have achieved fairly substantial market share, sometimes reaching 25 percent.
