Education Week - Navigating the Ed-Tech Marketplace - S21

JANE SWIFT, a former governor of Massachusetts, is the ceo of Middlebury Interactive
Languages, a for-profit joint venture created in 2010 by Middlebury College in Vermont and
Herndon, Va.-based K12 Inc., a publicly traded e-learning company. Middlebury College, which
has an international reputation for its foreign-language programs, owns 40 percent of the company,
which delivers courses to students in 1,200 school districts in the United States. The unique
partnership between a liberal arts college and a private company highlights the political and
economic complexities of navigating both the higher education and K-12 worlds. Recently, the
Middlebury College faculty passed a nonbinding vote to sever ties with K12 Inc., citing concerns
about censorship and the quality of one course. However, the president of the college and its board
of trustees remain supportive of the joint venture. Education Week Executive Project Editor Kevin
Bushweller interviewed Ms. Swift at the company's Middlebury offices and followed up with an
email interview about the recent faculty vote.
BILL GOODWYN, the ceo of Discovery Education, was asked in 2007 to lead what was
then considered a struggling division of Discovery Communications, a media and entertainment
company based in Silver Spring, Md., that is best known for running the Discovery Channel.
Today, Discovery Education's content reaches 35 million students in the United States and
supports the use of educational technology in school systems in more than 50 countries. Now, the
education division is the fastest-growing unit of its parent company. In a telephone interview,
Education Week Staff Writer Michele Molnar asked Mr. Goodwyn about Discovery Education's
role in the educational technology market.
What do you think of schools'
adoption of educational
technology?
How does the faculty vote affect
the current status of the company
and its plans for the future?
This development
doesn't have a direct
impact on the current
operations or the
future growth of the
company. We are very proud of our relationship
with Middlebury and always
strive to be good stewards of the Middlebury
brand and language pedagogy. At
the same time, we wouldn't have enjoyed
our strong growth without K12 and its
expertise in digital learning. There will
be bumps in the road since this partnership
is among the first of its kind, but
we are fortunate to have the support and
wisdom of both partners. In the end, the
progress we have made in increasing
access to quality world-language learning-especially
to students who have no
other options-can be a source of pride
for both Middlebury and K12.
What is the key to making publicprivate
partnerships work in the
K-12 system?
The biggest thing you need to do as
a company is understand schools' pain
points. Something I saw when I was the
governor of Massachusetts while trying
to do education policy is that there's a
certain arrogance among noneducators
that we all think we went to school,
and we send our children to school,
so that we completely understand the
challenges, opportunities, and issues
facing teachers and educators. So the
most important thing is to assemble a
leadership team that is committed to
supporting the unique challenges that
educators, and particularly teachers,
face. You can build a gorgeous product,
it can be research-proven to be effective,
but if it is not easy for teachers to use in
the classroom, if it doesn't fit the kind
of work that they are doing, it is all for
naught.
What lessons did you learn as
governor of Massachusetts about
how the private sector can help
government solve problems?
The private sector in Massachusetts,
through some organized groups, helped to
ensure that the [education] policies that
were put in place were bipartisan and
embraced by consecutive governors. So in
many ways, the business community in a
particular state can help ensure the longterm
implementation of a set of reforms. I
also held roundtables and meetings with
teachers to hear their reservations and
fears. The business community played
a critical role, and still does, in saying
what the overarching goals and policies
are that have to be achieved to make the
Massachusetts education system the best
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I'm so energized and
optimistic about where
our public schools are
headed. A lot of it's because
of what's happening
with education technology and the
impact it has. You're seeing great pockets
of instruction and improved student
outcomes. We're now giving teachers the
tools-when I say, "We," I don't mean just
us, a lot of companies-we're finally giving
teachers the tools to excite and engage kids.
How does this adoption of ed-tech
tools translate for companies?
I think the changes we're seeing now
and in the next couple of years are lightyears
ahead of what's happened over the
last 50. You can see all the money that's
coming into education technology, and the
spending in this sector, because it's one of
the few sectors that hasn't been disrupted
by technology or digital content.
What was the turning point in this
journey?
A few years ago, we had the budget crisis,
and schools were asked to make a lot
of cuts. At the same time, states had written
rules-and districts had to live by
them-that every six years, [districts] had
to buy textbooks whether they worked or
not, whether they were effective or not. The
good news is that the budget crisis really allowed
districts to step up and have a strong
voice to say something has to change.
NAVIGATING THE ED-TECH MARKETPLACE
What was Discovery Education
doing at that time?
The districts had asked us to provide a
textbook alternative. That's really what
got us started, to move from a supplemental
video-library service that could support
the teaching, to really move to a primary
instructional resource.
So we created the first digital textbook
based on districts asking us to do this because
they wanted kids to learn digital
content, they wanted to engage kids. With
that shift, we began to think that the biggest
piece is supporting the teachers. That
led us on the path to focus on professional
development. Then our focus became partnering
with districts to make this shift
from print to digital.
What are the biggest barriers to
delivering ed tech to schools?
A couple of years ago, you had a lot of
districts saying, "Why should I make this
shift to digital?" Now, they ask, "How
should I make this move to digital?" The
biggest challenge, first, is inertia. It's a big
challenge to go through and completely
change. The number-one factor in making
the shift is really great leadership.
What are the prospects for the
ed-tech marketplace itself?
I'm a fan of anybody that's coming up
with great educational services and products
that are available to teachers and educators
that can improve student learning.
The question I have for a lot of companies
is: Are they going to be sustainable? There
are a lot of companies that are trying to get
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EDUCATION WEEK * June 11, 2014
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Education Week - Navigating the Ed-Tech Marketplace

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