Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Alabama Accountability Act - the bright side

I flogged the Alabama Accountability Act a few days ago, and I've been turning it over in my head.  If I was to vote on it today, I would vote "no".  However, I am coming around to the idea of the act.  The reason I like the act: it gives a framework for starting an independent school in Alabama.

School Funding Framework for Innovation

Imagine this: a group of people capable of obtaining accreditation can start a school, and they know they can get $3,500 per year per student.  This is AWESOME!  There are so many ways to do low cost (or free), above average course delivery:

* Khan Academy
* Coursera
* Harvard Online Courses
MIT Online Courses
Stanford Online Courses

And 1000s more sites with online training, exercises and more.  With the online courses, a school could teach students to take charge of their education.  This school could also focus on partnering with local businesses to bring back apprenticeships.  Imagine the value of a school that delivered 4-hours per day of structured liberal arts training paired with practical real world apprenticeship programs.

Anyone willing to take this risk, would know the budget would guarantee: $3,500 / student / year.  Optimizing student improvement per dollar spent would be a good metric to start building an innovative education platform.

No comments: