Rescuing Catholic K-12 Education
By
David V. Anderson
June 8, 2008
The features
envisaged for Asora®
Education
Enterprises' Stellar Schools networks may be a good fit for
many of the needs of Catholic K-12 education. Using the
Stellar Schools model within the Catholic system(s) is not
an “all or none” proposition because the
features/offerings of Stellar Schools can be introduced and
evaluated one component at a time. Stellar Schools are
intended to simultaneously improve student outcomes, lower
operating costs and prevent social promotion. These
benefits are presumed to be of interest to Catholic
educators. Of particular interest and concern is the
promise of lower costs, which could help save financially
strapped schools. Beyond those considerations, and unlike
so many other private schools, which are not organized into
large networks, Catholic schools often exist in
sufficiently large systems where the economies of scale
available from Stellar Schools may provide additional
advantages.
Asora and its "sister" non-profit effort, Stellar Schools
Development Corporation, are available to help Catholic
educators implement these proposals. In either option, the
non-profit status of the Catholic school is not affected as
it is only affecting the vendor.
Here now follows a recent essay we wrote suggesting a
better way to operate Catholic schools:
_____________
A New Model For Catholic K-12 Education
By
David V. Anderson
May 23, 2008
Schools
in the United States and other developed countries are
nearly all operated in an age-based group instructional
format. We believe that grouping children by age groups is
largely responsible for the poor average performance of
these students when they are tested for proficiency.
Typically, less than half of the children are found to be
proficient. These problems not only affect public schools
but also Catholic schools.
Under the label, Stellar Schools, we have designed a model
school, which uses online self-paced instruction for the
core curriculum. Children learn in a tutoring format but
within traditional schoolrooms. It is made affordable by
employing computers and the Internet to create an on-demand
(asynchronous) learning environment which is both higher
quality and less expensive than contemporary group
instructional arrangements. Age based group instruction is
eliminated from the core curricular areas. To minimize
their costs we envisage organizing these schools into
networks that would have economies of scale.
The networks of schools could be organized under a
non-profit service organization or under a for-profit
franchising company. We can work with interested parties in
either format. Our for-profit arm is the company, Asora®
Education Enterprises, while our non-profit effort will be
organized under the Stellar Schools Development
Corporation. Regardless of the profit nature of the service
organization, non-profit schools, such as Catholic parish
schools, could operate under its umbrella.
Stellar Schools networks may be a good fit for many of the
needs of Catholic K-12 education. In terms of getting costs
down, consider that:
A number of other features, potentially of interest in Catholic education, include:
We imagine that the twin benefits of improved student outcomes and lower operating costs are surely of interest to Catholic educators. Of particular interest and concern is the promise of lower costs, which could help save financially strapped schools.
Beyond those considerations, and unlike so many other private schools, which are not organized into large networks, Catholic schools often exist in sufficiently large systems where the economies of scale available from Stellar Schools may provide additional advantages. We are available to help Catholic educators implement these proposals.
For much more information please visit our other website at AsoraEducation.Com .