Bill Gates Struggles to Get It Right

Posted by on June 18, 2006

Bill and Melinda Gates have quickly figured out how to make a real dent in the spread of serious disease in the developing world. But after spending $1 billion on education in six years, they still can't figure out how to fix America's schools, according to this week's Business Week.

It's not for lack of thoughtful engagement. The Gates Foundation has made big bets on small schools. But like so many promising "solutions," they haven't proven to be a silver bullet. Specifically, they haven't resulted in significant improvements in academic achievement, and math scores are actually worse than average.

Summarizing the lessons the Gates have learned, Business Week reports that small is not enough (better qualified teacher, a more rigorous curriculm and tougher academic standards are also key), it's easier to start from scratch that chop a big school into smaller parts, it's better to shut the worst schools and one size never fits all.