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As educators, we have been able to observe education from many perspectives
by serving in leadership positions at every level of education, both public and
private, including preschool, elementary school, middle or junior high school,
high school college, and graduate school. We have experienced the great American
Dream - the joy and excitement that comes from creating an educational business.
We have felt the fears and frustrations of uncertainty about financial security
for our families and our businesses, and concern about whether we would be able
to meet our payrolls, pay our bills, and service our loans.
Through being in business, we have learned the connection between autonomy
and social responsibility. We have sensed the personal satisfaction and pride
resulting from effort and sacrifice. We have enjoyed wonderful words of
gratitude from parents and former students for the educational programs we
provided in our schools.
In 1998, we established the International Academy for Educational
Entrepreneurship (IAEE). The mission of IAEE is to identify, encourage, and
support educators who have already invested or are interested in investing time,
energy, and capital to create, develop and market programs, products, services,
and/or technologies designed to enhance and improve education. We decided
IAEE's first endeavor should be a book profiling and celebrating successful
educational entrepreneurs.
This book features twenty-two educational entrepreneurs representing a
variety of educational businesses. Some of the businesses represented have
international dealings. The businesses include for-profit and not-for-profit
private schools; educational travel services; early childhood programs;
developers, manufacturers, and publishers of educational products, and media;
and author of children's books; tutorial services; a school for high-risk
students; a homeschooling management network; educational consultants for
curriculum and charter schools; an educational software publisher; and
educational camp; and an entrepreneurs range in size from small family
businesses generating a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue each year to a
company that recently sold for over $1 billion. Three of the individuals
featured have sold their companies but continue to stay active in educational
endeavors, and one passed away in January 2000.
The educational entrepreneurs were selected from individuals we already knew
or who were recommended to us. These educational entrepreneurs established a
variety of educational businesses that have had a dramatic impact on education.
The profiles of educational entrepreneurs in this book have been gleaned from
on-site and/or telephone interviews, and other source materials that provide
candid views of each individual. Prior to publication, those educational
entrepreneurs featured reviewed their chapter for accuracy.
Of course, all the women and men featured in this book are unique individuals
from different age groups, backgrounds, and socioeconomic situations. Likewise,
they have had very different experiences as educational entrepreneurs. Many have
found that their entrepreneurial efforts have solidified their marriages; a few
just the opposite. Some have businesses that have been in existence for over
twenty-five years; others for as little as five or six years. Most have actively
participated in their businesses with their spouse and/or children. Many have
had some false starts. Most, if not all, have watched their business transformed
to meet changing needs. Most have found ways to work directly with both public
and private institutions for the improvement of learning. Some of the businesses
rely heavily on public contracts and funds. All truly enjoy and appreciate the
freedom that comes from their own initiative, while a few admit they sometimes
miss some of the "perks" that come from being an employee in a
traditional school setting. Most find that long workdays and workweeks, though
somewhat limiting, are very satisfying. Most see themselves as providing
leadership, not only to their profession buy also to their communities. While in
all cases the monetary rewards have been enough to keep each business
profitable, money has never been the major motivator for any of them.
Collectively, these educational entrepreneurs provide a number of "life
models" for others to consider as they make personal and professional
decisions.
Never before in the history of American education has there been a period
with more opportunities for educational entrepreneurship. In the United States
over $700 billion is spent on education annually, of which approximately half is
for grades kindergarten through twelve. This amount represents approximately 10
percent of the Gross Domestic Product, second only to health care. The estimated
annual revenues of for-profit educational services are $70 billion and growing
at a rate of 25 percent a year.
New markets are emerging each year. Educational programs, products, services,
and technologies that were unheard of or merely discussed hypothetically ten
years ago are now becoming reality. These include voucher programs, charter
schools, homeschooling, virtual learning, distance learning, and various
software programs. In addition, the current high demand for more private schools
tutorial services, preschool education, child care programs, programs for
high-risk students, and many other educational programs, products, services, and
technologies prove that parents are willing to pay for better and more flexible
education over and above their tax dollars.
Webster's Dictionary defines an entrepreneur as, "A person who
organizes and manages an enterprise, especially a business, usually with
considerable initiative and risk." For the purpose of this book, an
educational entrepreneur is an individual who has served as an educator prior to
organizing a business related to education and has invested time, energy, and
capital to create, develop, and market a program, product, service, or
technology designed to enhance and improve learning. It is important to note
that according to this definition, educators who left the profession as
entrepreneurs in fields unrelated to education do not qualify. Nor do the many
educators who went to work for corporations and businesses, even though those
businesses may be directly related to education. The educational entrepreneurs
profiled in this book used their own resources to start and maintain a new
venture - an initiative that puts them in a class by themselves.
After reflecting on the experiences of the educational entrepreneurs featured
in this book and the literature on entrepreneurship, we have found the following
qualities to be attributes of educational entrepreneurs: tenacious, optimistic,
creative, courageous, persistent, willing to take risks, resourceful,
independent, opportunistic, and thoughtful.
The educational entrepreneurs featured in this book are educators who
personify these attributes. They have turned their dreams into innumerable
benefits to the field of education. They have taken ordinary educational
concepts and made them extraordinary. They have a refreshing passion for
education and a tireless dedication to making a difference in the lives of
children. They recognize the need for alternative delivery systems to meet the
various learning styles of students. They dare to be a different kind of
educator, primarily motivated by a strong desire to improve learning. They have
given up the security of tenure, retirement systems, automatic pay increases,
long summer recesses, and many other benefits of the teaching profession to
contribute something of unique value to education and to find
self-fulfillment.
These educational entrepreneurs are adventurous risk-takers who were not
afraid to put everything on the line. Where others see problems, these educators
see opportunities. They began their businesses with little more than a good idea
and a strong determination to make the idea work. To finance the establishment
of their businesses, these individuals withdrew retirement funds; took out
second mortgages on their houses; spent their children's educational funds;
borrowed money from banks, relatives, or friends; and employed other forms of
creative financing. Generally, they kept their "day jobs" while
testing the waters of educational entrepreneurism by working on their new
business ventures in the evenings, weekends, or during summer recesses. After
they were able to eke out a living from their new ventures, they plunged into
their businesses full-time, successfully growing them.
As we focused on the lives of these educational entrepreneurs who are making
a difference, we found two important common threads. First, these educational
entrepreneurs do not ask the question, "How can I improve education and
learning?" They have found the first question too limiting. The second
question, by focusing on processes, opens up many new ideas, possibilities,
concepts, applications of human resources, uses of technology, procedures for
delivering instruction, and structures for organizing delivery systems.
Second, none of these educational entrepreneurs changed their goals; they
merely altered the strategies they employed in achieving them. With out
exception, these entrepreneurs chose education as their profession, and their
goal was to improve the lives of children and the well-being of society. They
did that as educators and they are continuing to do that as educational
entrepreneurs. They still make a difference, but today they are doing it in more
innovative ways and for more people.
There are certainly many educators who wish to become more independent,
creative, and take greater responsibility for their lives. Over the years, we
have been approached on numerous occasions by educators who were interested in
how they could organize a business around an educational idea. Although this is
not necessarily a how-to-book, we hope educators who are considering going into
business will obtain useful information from the various models provided by
reflection upon these educational entrepreneurs in relation to their own
lives.
Not only educators will find these educational entrepreneurs of interest.
Business leaders, elected officials, and the general public who see education as
something more than buildings, books, and schedules will find the lives of these
educational entrepreneurs compelling. For it is through such individuals that
new ideas will emerge and improvements and innovations will be made to enhance
the educational process. In the future, we envision the focus shifting from
schools to learning so that questions like "How do we improve
learning?" will replace the confining and limited " How do we improve
schools?" And there will be more emphasis on exciting new possibilities in
education, rather than criticism of current problems. We believe that the
necessary changes in education will be provided in the future by educational
entrepreneurs.
We consider it an extreme privilege to get to know the outstanding
individuals profiled in this book, and to honor and celebrate their successful
endeavors. These educational entrepreneurs have earned our deepest gratitude and
admiration, and we hope they will inspire others to find their own creative
methods of improving learning and education.
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