In “Educational Entrepreneurship Today,” Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane assemble a diverse lineup of high-profile contributors to examine the contexts in which new initiatives in education are taking shape. They inquire into the impact of entrepreneurship on the larger field — including the development and deployment of new technologies — and analyze the incentives, barriers, opportunities, and tensions that support or constrain innovation.
Over the past decade, entrepreneurship has moved from the periphery to the center of education reform. Policy measures, philanthropic support, and venture capital increasingly promote initiatives that drive innovation within and outside the traditional education sector. These initiatives have included spectacular successes, such as Khan Academy, Teach For America, and Wireless Generation, as well as highly visible failures, such as the InBloom data warehouse.
“Educational Entrepreneurship Today” offers critical perspectives on the impact of entrepreneurship and also includes lessons from leading entrepreneurs, in which they use case studies drawn from their own experience to illustrate the realities of leading disruptive change in education and pose guiding questions for the next generation of innovators.
Praise for “Educational Entrepreneurship Today”
“Backward-looking and forward-facing at the same time, this book reveals how and why entrepreneurial activity in education first began, what themes have dominated the movement thus far, and offers compelling insights into the opportunities that lie ahead.”
—Monica C. Higgins, Kathleen McCartney Professor of Education Leadership, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“At a time when almost all people must be well educated and highly skilled to meet the demands of an increasingly exciting, complex and inequitable world, it is imperative to understand the opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurial endeavors to produce and scale breakthrough solutions. In these chapters are insights that will benefit any education stakeholder interested in creating opportunity for all.”
—Jim Shelton, president and chief impact officer, 2U Inc.
“Hess and McShane have me deep in thought once again. You won’t agree with all of what you read here; you aren’t expected to. This is not a book of solutions or recommendations. Rather, it is full of considerations, reflections, and possibilities.”
—Deborah A. Gist, superintendent, Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma
“This volume provides refreshing essays that mostly eschew the typical cheerleading or criticism of entrepreneurial efforts to improve America’s schools, and instead offer competing ideas for how to tap the strengths of entrepreneurship in education and mitigate its risks.”
—Jon Schnur, executive chairman, America Achieves
Frederick M. Hess is resident scholar and director of Education Policy Studies at AEI. Michael Q. McShane is director of education policy at the Show-Me Institute and an adjunct fellow in Education Policy Studies at AEI.
Frederick M. Hess
Senior Fellow and Director, Education Policy Studies
