Can Districts Learn to Innovate? Lessons from NYC

Robin Lake:

As part of the iZone effort, the district looked for new ways to procure novel solutions to instructional and other challenges in the school system. This new attempt to connect entrepreneurs with educators and curate new solutions, called “Innovate NYC Schools,” is the subject of the paper we’re releasing today. Steven Hodas, who managed the Innovate NYC effort, writes about why the district took on this challenge and what he and his colleagues learned from the experience. Little things, like locating the office among tech entrepreneurs and doing hack-a-thons and video challenges, rather than traditional RFPs, are examples of how hard Steven tried to shake things up.