'Crowdsourcing for quality schools'

Phi Delta Kappan



In a recent blog post for Phi Delta Kappan, Jack Schneider, assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross, spoke to the importance of quality and high-value schooling, and the fact that often, parents are the lynchpins to such success.

In his blog, Schneider insisted that parents are “quality-conscious” when it comes to their children’s education, and that relatively speaking, higher quality schools tend to be located in the suburbs. Therefore, there is a catch-22, as suburban schools “possess qualities that attract engaged adults” while “other schools, many of them in cities, lack the qualities that would draw those whose absence makes it virtually impossible to send the ‘good school’ signal.”

In order to help all schools thrive regardless of location, Schneider proposed that we should embrace technology, and explore popular crowdsourcing methods such as Kickstarter with the aim of financially backing under-resourced schools. With this in mind, Schneider assured that schools in need would reap benefits, saying, “infusing those schools with new resources promises far more upsides than downsides.” Then, still proposing his progressive plan, he said, “We can allocate what we have in a manner that is more fair, more just, and more efficient. We just have to think creatively.”

This ‘Holy Cross in the News’ item by David Cotrone ’13.