Articles from Kristin L. Allen

Kristin L. Allen | Virginia Education Coalition

In August 2017, Amazon entered the retail grocery market. Its goal: transform the economic value chain associated with traditional bricks-and-mortar grocery delivery. Its plan: expand its scope, differentiate its product, cut cost by integrating grocers and customers into its larger e-commerce platform, and lower consumer prices. , Traditional grocery chains’ market value dropped 8 percent overnight.

And this is just the beginning – we will … continuously lower prices as we invent together. – Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon World Consumer

Education and grocery stores are different industries, but both have much to learn from Amazon. Like traditional grocers, public education’s business model is based on a command-and-control, geographically-based, product delivery system that has worked the same for decades. Both take advantage of technology to improve their business model, but in different ways. Continue reading →

by Kristin L. Allen, Virginia Education Coalition, LLC

Parents have a dim view of American education’s direction. According to Jason Bedrick in “Americans Want Choice, Not Government Mandates” (EducationNext, June 2014),

Nearly six out of ten say that K-12 education is on the ‘wrong track’ compared with only one-third who said it is going the ‘right-direction’.

Virginia parents’ concerns are founded. Over the past 40 years, the cost of Virginia K-12 education has risen 20% in inflation adjusted dollars, while SAT scores – a measure of a student’s ability to be successful in college – have remained flat or declined. Education as a whole consumes more than one-third of the state’s budget.

In fact, no correlation exists between Virginia’s increased spending and academic achievement. In September 2014, the Richmond Times Dispatch reported that more than 30% of Virginia K-12 schools fail to meet full accreditation standards. Continue reading →