Why School Districts Can’t Disrupt Themselves: They Are the Business Model

For years I’ve hoped that school districts could take a page from other industries and “disrupt” themselves to optimize learning for each and every child.

I’ve changed my mind.

It’s not because districts can’t innovate. They can, and many do.

But a proper application of disruptive innovation theory shows that the vast majority of existing school districts will not drive the disruptive innovation needed to transform the education sector in the United States—not because they lack visionary leaders, but because districts themselves are the incumbent business model.

For those who haven’t followed all my past work on this topic, a bit of grounding.