The focus of this short post is a report released earlier this year by Bellweather called ' Some Assembly Required: How a More Flexible Learning Ecosystem Can Better Serve All Kids and Unlock Innovation' (19 page PDF). The report describes what the authors call 'assembly-based education,' "a hypothetical ecosystem that removes schools as a central education component" and "proposes giving families the ability and funding to choose among varied learning opportunities." As summarized in an NEPC review (13 page PDF) of the report, "the approach is presented as helping to remove some barriers for lower-income families and to facilitate new communities based on shared interests rather than geography." All fair enough. But as the reviewers point out, the solutions proposed do not address the problems identified. "While educational disparities do exist, most negatively impacting marginalized and low-income students, the root causes of the problem largely lie far beyond schools." It is very unliklely that reliance on market-based solutions will address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination and in justice.
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