As reported by Rick Hess on his blog on edweek.org, Joel Rose, co-founder and CEO of the School of One program we featured in this year’s Technology Counts report, will be leaving the New York City Department of Education to start a new independent foundation with the aim of creating similar programs nationwide.
As Hess writes, and as we reported in Technology Counts, Rose and the School of One had been exploring ways to take the model of adaptive instruction for middle school mathematics beyond the city, and had held preliminary, informal discussions with several other districts about becoming involved with the effort.
[UPDATE: Rose said in a phone interview Tuesday that originally his team had looked at setting up the new organization as “captive” nonprofit within the NYCDOE, meaning the city schools chancellor would have final say over the program’s direction. But in the last few weeks, Rose said, it became evident that the best direction for the concept was to establish the new organization as a “noncaptive” or independent organization, which would give Rose autonomy over the program. That makes it easier to raise funds, Rose said, but also prevents him from collaborating with anyone from the NYCDOE for a full year unless granted a waiver from the city’s conflict of interest board.
The chances of that waiver being granted?
I don’t [know], I really don’t,” Rose said. “What I do feel comfortable with is that there is a lot of interest in School of One around the country. I’m committed to protecting the idea and making sure the idea is housed in place gives it best chance for success.”]
According to a letter written by Rose and posted on a blog, the School of One in the city will now fall under the jurisdiction of the New York City Innovation Zone. It’s unclear exactly what the relationship will be between the School of One and Rose’s new foundation, but Hess goes into detail about the possibilities and obstacles for such a relationship.
In related news, New York City Comptroller John Liu announced Sunday he would be launching an audit of the Innovation Zone in a response to public questions about the program from city residents. Liu and his staff will also be auditing the city DOE’s Achievement Reporting and Innovation System, a data system effort launched by the city in 2007.