Fund Innovation and Improve the Nation

Reading through the news clips, I happen upon this: Ted Mitchell, John Doerr and Corey Booker have penned an opinion piece for the LA Times. The focus is on improving the educational system by funding systems that bring innnovation into our public school systems.

Today, the shame of our cities isn't bubonic plague; it's ignorance. In our urban areas, only one child in five is proficient in reading. On international tests, we rank behind the Czech Republic and Latvia; our high school graduation rate barely makes the top 20 worldwide. As columnist David Brooks has noted, educational progress has been so slow that "America's lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited." Under-education may not end lives the way infectious diseases do, but it just as surely wastes them. For all the hard work of our good teachers, our system is failing to keep pace with the demands of a new century.

In the article, Booker, Doerr and Mitchell show thatthere are examples of how teaching for public education's sake can be rewarding and can help the wider system.

Pay attention to this blog. In the coming weeks we will be bringing interviews with these innovators and showing how private, entrepreneurial led businesses are changing the face of for-profit and public education.