The
Essentials of Stellar Schools
and Why We Need Them
Whether it is through our
non-profit Stellar Schools Development Corporation or by
our sister for-profit Asora Education Enterprises, we and
our colleagues intend to develop, establish, and operate
networks of K-12 Stellar Schools that are designed to solve
many of the problems currently afflicting public and
private education. Rather than face the difficulties of
managing a wholly owned system of schools, we plan to
utilize various kinds of licensing networks in the
operations of our schools.
We know, both from anecdotal accounts and from research
sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, that many
high school aged children either dropout of school or are
among the 75% of public high school graduates who are not
proficient at the 12th grade level. For further information
about these problems, please see our page
Troubles in Our
Schools.
Our research indicates that we can design better schools
that will operate for less expense. We know that:
* From the viewpoint of business, we need both economies of
scale and the cost savings that derive from automation.
* From the viewpoint of education, we need a more rigorous
curriculum (including economics) and we need to provide our
instruction in a self-paced format
* Also from the requirements of education, we need schools
that are structured to prevent social promotion.
* From the viewpoint of economics, both altruism and/or
profit motives can provide strong incentives for superior
performance.
* From the viewpoint of ethics, for-profit and non-profit
entities tend to be corruption resistant in comparison to
government organizations which we believe are more at risk.
* From a combination of viewpoints, we need the flexibility
at the local level and the ease of raising funds that is
accomodated by establishing a licensing network of
cooperating schools.
Consistent with the concepts of licensing, the individual
schools in a Stellar Schools system will be owned by the
licensees. The licensor, the Stellar Schools Development
Corporation, will provide centralized services to the local
schools. These will include Web-based distance education
services, examination services, and the provision of
supplies. Home schools will also receive services from the
licensor under a format similar to existing "virtual
schools."
Our plan for developing these schools within the non-profit
world are described in our Strategic
Plan for the
Stellar Schools Development Corporation. As to plans in the
for-profit world you can review the Asora Education
Enterprises' Business Plan
Summary or
its full Business
Plan. All
three of these documents can be downloaded from our
Download Development
Reports page.
We envisage providing each student with a laptop computer
on which they will access the instructional services and
content for all of the courses of the core curriculum. All
routine teacher functions will be automated and the
teaching faculty (who actually do the instruction) will be
based at the system's central service facility. These
faculty, working in two person teaching teams, will produce
the courseware including the Web based video lectures. They
will also generate and maintain the examination data base.
Finally, they will assist at the system's centrally located
help desk when the remotely located students seek
additional help that's not available at their locations. At
the local school venues, the instructors will act as tutors
with the help of teaching assistants and student tutors.
Another unique feature of Stellar Schools is its
curriculum, which is operationally defined as the universe
of examination questions and answers applicable to each of
its courses.
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Now, as a visitor to our Website we recommend the following
segments and/or downloadable files from our Website content
according to your type and level of interest:
General Interest: (New
Developments, Old
Developments,
Troubles in Our
Schools, Strategic Plan
(a
download file), and How We'll Teach
Algebra)
Catholic Education Stakeholders: (The preceding plus
In Catholic
Education)
Prospective Students and their Families: (The General
Interest links plus Staff &
Credentials)
The Education R & D Community: Most segments except
(Rationale &
Motivation,
Investor's Video)
Prospective Players and Investors: All segments and
particularly Rationale &
Motivation.
Policy Makers: All segments or those relevant
to their specific interests.