by Mary McConnell, Deseret News
Ten years ago many education reformers pinned their hopes on educational choice: harnessing the power of the market and competition to force improvement on schools. While the debate over vouchers and charter schools continues to rage, several of the leading choice advocates have shifted their strategy to focus on expanding online education. Choice advocates John Chubb (Edison Schools) and Terry Moe (Stanford University) argue in an article in reform journal Education Next, that “technology is destined to transform American education. . . Curricula, teaching methods, and schedules can all be customized to meet the learning styles and life situations of individual students; education can be freed from the geographic constraints of districts and brick-and-mortar buildings; coursework from the most remedial to the most advanced can be made available to everyone; students can have more interaction with teachers and one another; parents can readily be included in the education process; sophisticated data systems can measure and guide performance; and schools can be operated at lower cost with technology (which is relatively cheap) substituted for labor (which is relatively expensive). educationnext.org/files/ednext_20091_42.pdf
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