"Business Model" reforms are particular types of education reform efforts that tend to focus on accountability and competition as mechanisms for change.  These reforms borrow heavily from the business world.  Business Model Reformers tend to see the free market as a perfect system, in that it eliminates the weak and rewards the strong or effective businesses, thereby increasing the health of the entire system (natural selection).  In short, business model reformers believe schools would improve if they were run more like businesses.

I think it is fair to mark the establishment of Teach For America as the seminal event in Business Model reform.  It drastically increased the competitive environment for teaching jobs in many urban areas and renewed the interest in teacher accountability.  TFA soon spawned many more busines model reforms.  Now they can boast a Superintendant in a major urban district (Michelle Rhee in Washington, D. C.) as well as the most respected school improvement innitiative in the KIPP schools. 

But as the business world has crumbled over the last few months it may be time to take a second look at Business Model education reforms.  The philosophical basis of these reforms are now in question.  We were told that competition brought on by charter schools and voucher programs would purify our educational system as it purifies the free market.  Now we know that competition is a mirage in some cases.  Companies that are "too big to fail" are insulated from it and can find ways to side-step competition.  We were told that effective teachers should get bonuses because in the business world the best work earns the best pay.  Now we know that bonus systems can be corrupted and seem as likely to reward well-connected criminals as they are hard working innovators.  We were told that standardized tests would give us numbers that cannot lie, on which we can base an accountable system of evaluation.  Now we know that numbers can be made to lie if the motives of greedy individuals are strong enough. 

As our market economy recovers, with much government help, it is important to remember education.  Those who believe our schools should be modeled after our businesses can offer some insight.  But it is important to remember that, while the closing of a factory is a shame, the failure of a system to secure a child's future is a tragedy.  Competition in business requires some to fail, the future of our nation requires all children to have an opportunity to succeed in acquiring an education.