I’m starting a new feature here, one I am absolutely ripping off from Doug Levin, where I highlight the media in which I’m cited.

As quoted in “Citing Investor Priorities, AltSchool Closes Some Sites, Pivots to Software Sales,” by Education Week’s Ben Herold:

Many such ventures “involve grand experimentation on students in order to develop and sell products to other schools,” said Audrey Watters, an independent researcher who maintains the popular Hack Education blog.

“So much of what these companies do is really for their investors, and that really dictates the kinds of decisions that get made,” Watters said.

…

It also raises bigger questions about AltSchool’s values and priorities, said Watters of Hack Education.

“When you think about schooling as a business, you don’t always recognize that you’re not dealing with products, you’re dealing with other people’s children,” she said.

That’s particularly true, Watters maintained, when companies feel beholden to venture capitalists expecting them to bring products to scale quickly.