Chart of the Week

The Big 10:
Veritas? | Pershing Square Foundation
BUY, SELL, or HOLD? Activist investor and Harvard alum Bill Ackman put together a 49-page investment report on his alma mater. Wild Bill lays out how Harvard stacks up in terms of the key fundamentals of educational institutions. The presentation outlines just how vulnerable of a position Harvard has found itself in. For those who think a global powerhouse franchise like Harvard is invincible, remember – it wasn’t so long ago that companies like Kodak, Sears, and General Motors were thought to be bulletproof.
School-Based Mental Health Initiatives Challenges and Considerations for Policymakers | Manhattan Institute
We believe that schools, especially in the most under-resourced communities, need to provide critical services, including mental health care. However, to the hammer, the whole world is a nail, and bad mental health care might be worse than no mental health care at all. It’s clear we need a more targeted approach.
Education’s Bottom Line: Schools Embrace Business Principles to Measure Performance | RealClear Investigations
Where many see obstacles, the leaders among us see opportunities. “COVID” was the answer to all questions about why school performance fell so dramatically over the past several years. But in Boulder Valley School District, scores have risen past 2019 numbers. The core business principle of feeding activities that create the highest return on investment is showing the highest ROE (return on education). This is not financial engineering, but investing in growth.
It’s Easy to See What Drove Jonathan Holloway to Quit | The New York Times
We’re a friend and a fan of Rutgers’ former President who has recently announced that he will be stepping down at the end of this academic year. Being a university President has never been a bowl of cherries, but the onslaught of extraneous challenges has made it mission impossible. One ray of hope in New Brunswick is the Scarlet Knights football team - which is 4-0 for the first time in many moons.
21 startups transforming education with AI | Google Blogs
The granddaddy of the AI Revolution, Google, has gifted us a list of 21 businesses transforming education with AI from its startup growth academy. The selected companies span from Nigeria to the UAE to the Netherlands and were chosen from a pool of more than 600 applicants.
California Law Bans College Legacy and Donor Admissions, Including USC, Stanford | The Los Angeles Times
Your future shouldn’t be determined by how well you select your parents. The favoritism toward legacy children has been a long-standing blemish on the integrity of higher ed. Varsity Blues was an outrageous example of the lengths to which rich parents will go for their children’s prospective college experiences. To paraphrase our friend Arne Duncan, “No kid born on third base should feel the need to steal home.”
Closing Struggling Schools Helped Student Achievement in Denver, Study Finds | Chalkbeat
It’s incomprehensible to see the logic of keeping schools alive that have been killing students for years. While closing a failed school and opening a new one doesn’t guarantee success, the data shows that in fact, the clean-slate model is working in Denver – particularly for the most disadvantaged children.
Sorry, Harvard. Everyone Wants to Go to College in the South Now. | WSJ
Students are feeling a gravitational pull from north to south. Better weather? Of course. Lower cost? Sure. The desire held by many students to have a “normal” college experience, as opposed to fighting for peace in the Middle East between classes, has created a Southern student migration. Football, fraternities, and flat-out fun are a time-tested formula for a positive college experience.
Behind the Curtain: Your Personal Ph.D. Army | Axios
People went from calling AI the coolest magic trick ever to the replacement of every job to a flash in the pan in the past two years. The reality is that AI is going to be a game-changer and a world-enhancer when correctly utilized. It remains the world’s greatest inside-the-box-thinker, but uniquely human creativity happens by connecting dots outside of context windows…no matter how large those windows may become.
Inside the Secret School for the World’s Best Founders |
Are great entrepreneurs born, or are they made? Nature or nurture? Our belief is that it’s both. Avra aspires to be the learning institution for the world’s best founders. The model is a twist on the traditional VC framework, which tries to help entrepreneurs after they make an investment – Avra turns that on its head by building entrepreneurial muscle before joining the cap table.
This Week’s People Moves
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Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra: Kunwar's Global School ➡️ GEMS Education India Region, Regional Head
Megan Edwards: Integrity Power Search ➡️ Wiley, Account Executive
Jonathan Price: 10K Schools ➡️ nexquare, Director of Business Growth
Daniela Andrade: None ➡️ WWV Labs, Co-Founder