Teachers' expertise for sale to schools
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A Seattle company that has enlisted some of the nation's most prominent names in public education is developing a product for sale to school districts.
TeachFirst, a for-profit teacher-training venture, was co-founded by Seattle School Board President Don Nielsen.
Riding a new wave of entrepreneurialism in public education, TeachFirst would bring lesson plans and examples of top-notch classroom instruction to teachers over the Internet.
The company boasts an asset that most education companies don't have: a board of directors and an advisory board with names familiar to educators around the country.
While it's not unusual for retired educators to move into the private sector, it is less common - and troublesome to some observers - for educators to lend their names to a private enterprise while they are still working in the public sector.
Rudy Crew, the former New York City schools chancellor who now heads the University of Washington-based K-12 Leadership Institute, sits with Nielsen on the TeachFirst board of directors.
UW College of Education Dean Patricia Wasley and San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman - a former deputy superintendent in Seattle - are on TeachFirst's education advisory board. Nielsen and Wasley - who has no financial stake in the company - said they became involved in the for-profit venture because they believe it could improve the quality of teaching across the country.
TeachFirst executives are crisscrossing the continent in search of "great teachers" who can serve as models for teachers. The company's Web site, teachfirst.com, will show video clips of the teachers in action and will post their suggestions for teaching classes from kindergarten to 12th grade.
"I'm not doing this because I want to make lots of money on it," said Nielsen, a successful businessman. "I'm doing it because I think it's a good idea."
Nielsen, the only TeachFirst director who is an investor in the company, said the Seattle School District will not purchase its service while he serves both on the school board and the company board. Before incorporating TeachFirst, he told associates he does not plan to run for re-election to the school board when his second four-year term ends in the fall.
Nielsen says he plans to donate his TeachFirst stock to the Alliance for Education, which supports Seattle schools, but only after the stock gains market value.
TeachFirst President and Chief Executive Officer John Mullin recently said the San Francisco School District - headed by advisory-board member Ackerman - planned to subscribe to the TeachFirst service in the fall. But last week, he and a spokeswoman for the district said no agreement had been reached.
Advisory-board members receive no compensation beyond meals and travel expenses.
Crew, whose Institute for K-12 Leadership is a joint project of the UW and the federally funded WestEd education agency, holds no stock in TeachFirst. But the company has yet to decide how directors will be compensated. Many companies do so through stock options.
It is unclear whether the names and reputations of Crew and Ackerman will lead school districts to subscribe to TeachFirst.
"Rudy commands respect," said Kati Haycock, director of the nonprofit Education Trust. "He and Arlene are names that will get people in the door. Whether they get the product bought I don't know."
For-profit companies - dubbed "edupreneurs" in a new report by the Cato Institute -- are playing a growing role in public education. Entrepreneurs account for $18.5 billion of the $350 billion spent annually on K-12 education.
Edison Schools, a private company contracted to run public schools, reported revenues of $288 million last year.
Apex Learning, created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, operates what it calls "virtual school" for high-school students taking classes online. Apex and TeachFirst executives have had preliminary discussions about possible areas of collaboration, said Apex President Keith Oelrich.
Nielsen and TeachFirst co-founder Sandi Everlove "agonized" over whether to create a for-profit company or a nonprofit organization, Nielsen recalled. They settled on the commercial model because it offered a way to raise large amounts of capital quickly and to avoid fund raising.
Although Nielsen has disavowed selling the product to his school district, some observers are concerned about active educators being involved in such a venture.
"I think it's a very dangerous thing to have people who are currently serving in the capacity of a school-board member or a school superintendent involved with the development of a company that's looking to make money from the relationship with public schools," said Andrew Hagelshaw, executive director for the Center for Commercial-Free Public Education.
"At that point, you're starting to cross the line, you're starting to blend the public and the private too much."
An investment of Nielsen's led the Seattle School District last month to cancel its contract with the Flexcar car-sharing partnership. Nielsen, a shareholder and board member of Flexcar operator Mobility Inc., said he initially was unaware of the talks that led to the $1,600-a-month contract.
Nielsen and his wife, Melissa, in 1998 made a $1 million gift to Seattle Public Schools, creating the John H. Stanford Endowment Fund and funding additional training for teachers and principals.
Keith Ervin can be reached at 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com.