Article from Education Elements on Betsy Devos and Charter Schools by Michale Horn

From https://medium.com/personalized-learning/the-impact-of-betsy-devos-a-q-a-with-michael-horn-747f1e0e5f70?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8ZTdJ9i52Y_TOlG_Qn5RRmCtXBdBfKwG8QxFmLfka2UGTZUqcoo_qqJj2mgqazkltCv78UrMu3sR5ezSow27b_ARRySw&_hsmi=43487875 I like the way Mr. Horn directs focus away from charter schools and on to educational opportunities for all students. There is a lot of speculation that this (Betsy Devos) is good for charter schools and less so for traditional public schools. Do you see ways in which all schools will benefit? Michael Horn: I guess I don’t entirely agree with that speculation. Certainly I think charters may get some boosts over the next 2 or 4 years. But from my perspective, charter schools have long had a lot of freedoms in how they operate — how they structure their inputs. That gives them a lot of room to innovate. People then look at the district schools and say, “Why can’t you innovate like those schools?” But that’s not a fair point, because not only do district schools have a long legacy of how things have always been done that are not easy to discard, they also have lots of regulations that dictate what they can and cannot do that create a compliance mindset that, for many, overwhelms the opportunities to innovate and focus on the outcomes for each and every single student. If we could loosen up some of those regulations around inputs, we could see more innovation from all educators on the ground. The key is to make sure we’re innovating on behalf of each and every single student — not just some. On balance, I’m optimistic educators will rise to the challenge. Lastly, I think outside of Washington, DC, we will see more states creating “Course Access” or “Course Choice” policies. Why? Because school choice is a policy that really only impacts students in urban environments, some suburban ones. It’s not a policy that will really benefit or help students in exurban and rural school districts, where President Trump’s base lives in many cases. Course Access allows dollars to follow students down to the individual course level — be that an online course or one from a local community college — and pays the provider only upon successful completion by the student, such that rural and exurban districts could essentially offer an unlimited course catalog to their students. I think that will not only create opportunities for innovation, but also push schools to innovate to create more enticing and personalized opportunities for students. Either way, we’re going to see a lot of rhetoric about choice over the next several years — and I’m hopeful that doesn’t stay limited to “school choice”, which will only impact a few, but to “educational choice”, which, in certain respects, is at the heart of personalizing learning for all students. Hopefully this will prod all schools to step up and innovate to personalize for all.