Publications

Read Now

October 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Background Note

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Trends in China K-12

By: John J-H Kim, Haibo Zhao and Shu Lin

This note provides a brief survey of the major entrepreneurial and innovation trends in China’s K-12 education landscape, using trends in public policy as background, but focusing on opportunities available for the private market. The note first provides a brief... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Education; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Education Industry; China

March 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Technical Note

Technology Innovations in K-12 Education

By: John J-H Kim, Roniesha Copeland and Christine S. An

This background note on technology innovations in education offers a market overview of the edtech sector and discusses trends, common challenges, and criticisms encountered in exploring edtech ventures. The note introduces the promise of educational technology as it... View Details

28 Sep 2015
News

Harvard Researchers Envison Better Business, Nonprofit Cooperation in K-12

22 Sep 2015
News

Investing in Scalable Impact on K-12 Education

their broader educational philanthropy goals to improve learning outcomes and also increase access to quality education. What we are looking to do is support entrepreneurs and invest in companies that we think can make a very scalable impact on View Details

26 Apr 2012
News

Social Entrepreneurs Try to Offer Solutions to K-12 Problems

05 Nov 2019
News

How the Future of Work Will Heap New Pressure on K-12 Companies

05 Oct 2021
Podcast

82. K-12 School Systems, Seize This Moment! A Conversation with Thomas Arnett

Tom Arnett is Senior Research Fellow – Education at The Clayton Christensen Institute, where he studies instructional models and demand for innovative resources and practices across the K-12 education system. In this episode, he joins host Michael Horn to dig into his... View Details

19 Mar 2020
Podcast

49. Disruption and the Democratization of K-12 Education: A Conversation with Thomas Arnett

This week on The Disruptive Voice, we are delighted to bring you a conversation, recorded in early March, with Thomas Arnett. Thomas is a Senior Research Fellow - Education at the Clayton Christensen Institute, where he researches disruption in K-12 education,... View Details

April 2022
Case

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

As COVID-19 hit and school buildings closed across America in the spring of 2020, tens of thousands of K-12 students in Chattanooga’s Hamilton County lacked the high-quality Internet service required to connect them to remote education. Bryan Johnson, superintendent... View Details

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Online Technology; Education Industry; Tennessee

26 Mar 2019
News

New Professorship in Education and Data Sciences Announced

Keywords: K-12

June 2023
Teaching Note

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (A) and (B)

By: Jan W. Rivkin

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 722-449 and 722-451. As this case opens, it is the spring of 2020 in Chattanooga. COVID-19 has hit, public schools have closed their buildings, remote learning has begun, and more than 28,000 schoolkids lack the high-quality Internet... View Details

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Education Industry; Tennessee

April 2022
Supplement

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (B)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Education Industry; Tennessee

Connections Education (CE), now part of Pearson’s Online and Blended Learning business, was created in 2001 to develop a new, more flexible, and more personalized type of learning for students for whom the traditional classroom was not a good fit. In early 2017, CE... View Details

March 2018
Case

Summit Public Schools (A)

By: John J-H Kim and Aldo Sesia

Summit Public Schools was a very successful charter management organization with schools in California and Washington State. The students came from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, many from economically disadvantaged households. While nearly all of its students... View Details

Keywords: K-12; Online Learning; Virtual Learning; Blended Learning; Secondary Education; Middle School Education; Early Childhood Education; Learning; Business Model; Performance Improvement; Technology

January 2016 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Match Next: Next Generation Middle School?

By: John J-H Kim and Daniel Goldberg

This case is set in 2015 as a team at Match Education, a high performing charter middle school in Boston, explores new staffing and technology approaches in their quest to obtain what they term "jaw dropping" results. The team hopes to test and model for other schools... View Details

Keywords: General Management; K-12; Charter Schools; Public Schools; Edtech; Education; Information Technology; Management; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Education Industry; Boston

July 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Sampark Foundation: Transforming Primary Education in India

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Shweta Bagai

Founders Vineet and Anupama Nayar had rapidly scaled their foundation to reach 3 million primary school children (grades 1 to 3) in two states with math and English programs. Their goal was to reach 10 million children by 2025 and completely spend down the $100 million... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Management; K-12 Education; Frugal Innovation; Government Partnership; Impact; Developing Countries; Education; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Outcome or Result; India