AltSchool

Silicon Valley School Reform player - ran schools 2013-2019, then rebranded as Altitude Learning

• is it a Full Stack Startup? 2014-06-25-FishbeinFullStackEducationStartups

Emphasizing Personalized Learning through technology. (Founder Max Ventilla was Personalization guy at Google)

May'2015: new round of funding

• is it going to grow fast enough for VC model?
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/05/04/403577703/a-for-profit-school-startup-where-kids-are-beta-testers
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/silicon-valley-reimagines-school#.oyv1m22OQ
  • their Play List CardDeck sounds like Learning Object-s
  • part of the funding will go towards expanding the AltSchool model beyond upscale private schools, Ventilla said, by allowing Charter School-s and Public School-s to become part of the AltSchool network. For those non-private schools, AltSchool — a for-profit company — would function essentially as a charter management organization, licensing the company’s technology and handling day-to-day operations, as well as providing guidance, such as an AltSchool-developed “heatmap” to identify neighborhoods for future schools. Schools could also buy and use pieces of AltSchool technology in their existing models, Ventilla said.
• http://www.wired.com/2015/05/altschool/?utm_content=bufferc51c1/
  • no administrators, no gymnasiums, no cafeterias, no hallways. There are no report cards and no bells signaling it’s time for the next class.
  • Ventilla likes to call AltSchool’s approach to teaching “Montessori 2.0.” (Montessori School)
  • emphasis on Personalize Learning Environment
• http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/our-schools-all-have-a-tragic-flaw-silicon-valley-thinks-it-has-the-answer
• skeptic Timothy Burke: http://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2015/05/09/apples-for-the-teacher-teacher-is-an-apple/