The program outlined in this article - community conversations, new school models, dual enrollment, private schools, competency systems, etc. - is just a good way to waste $5 billion (or $30 billion, or whatever). The problem isn't quality. The problem is access.
How would I spend $5 billion? I'd put into the hands of educators and communities, mostly in Africa. Maybe a million $5000 projects. Something like that. Ask them to form linkages with each other. Ask them to source locally where they can. Digital is important; there should be last-mile and community access projects. Owned locally, managed locally. No money for Harvard or Stanford or MIT, no money for consulting companies or think tanks - indeed, just the opposite, I'd be asking all those wealthy education reformers to match that money, without tying strings to it.
Everybody is focused on giving people fish, or teaching people how to fish, but I'm a crazy-minded technologist, I want to make sure everyone has, and can make, their own fishing equipment.
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