(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.) Schools are like businesses, but not in the way most think. I frequently find myself in conversations comparing “how it works in business” with “how it works in education.” A popular version goes something like this: Schools are like factories. They take raw materials (kids and textbooks) and, through years of education, forge a valuable product: young adults prepared for college, life, and work. In this analogy, teachers work the assembly line, supervised by the principal. Most educators bristle at this analogy. Are teachers really like factory workers? Are students really products? (If they are defective, asks Stanford education professor and author Larry Cuban,can we send them back?) Here’s a more useful analogy: Schools are like consulting businesses. The students are knowledge workers, organized into teams to analyze and solve problems, … Read entire article »