Stimulating the Supply and Building the Capacity of New Schools and School Developers: Recommendations for the Design and Implementation of a New Schools Incubator

June 2000
Abigail Winger

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An increasingly pressing issue impacting the quality of educational services in the United States is the country's growing need for new public schools equipped to meet the unique demands of this generation's students and policy environment. Factors such as enrollment growth, the threat of school reconstitution, the expanding charter school movement, and an increasing preference for small schools all combine to create the demand for new schools. Creating a new schools incubator, an entirely new organization designed to provide expertise and support to school founders during their planning process, is one solution that may meet the needs of school founders facing the challenges of planning effective new schools. In order to inform potential school incubator developers, this report examines the viability of creating a new schools incubator and identifies appropriate incubator services. It details the growing need for new schools, the challenges to school start-up, and the theory behind incubation. In addition, this report provides lessons learned from interviews with business incubator directors relevant to the design and planning for a schools incubator. Finally, the paper closes with recommendations for ways school incubator developers can ensure the viability and impact of a new schools incubator. Challenges of School Start-Up Several common barriers typically hinder the smooth start-up of new schools: Lack of access to resources and technical expertise: School founders often lack contacts with experts in the political, practical, and technical aspects of starting schools, and they do not know where to tap the educational resources their schools might need. Lack of start-up financing: There is little financing available to school founders for planning, programs, and building renovation or construction. Lack of time and space for planning: Many school founders lack the structured time and space needed to create an educational program, school policies, and a financial plan. Lack of access to others with founding experience: Due to their isolation from others who have created schools, founders feel like they have to "reinvent the wheel" when creating school policies and programs. This can create delays and disorganization in the planning process. Building an Effective Schools Incubator A new schools incubator structured to aid in surmounting these start-up challenges is an adaptation of the business incubator - an organization formed to accelerate the development of potentially successful entrepreneurial companies by providing hands-on assistance and a variety of business and technical support services during the vulnerable early years. A schools incubator can provide similar support in school planning and start-up by addressing such issues as obtaining financing for planning, programs, and facilities and linking founders with expert mentors. Since the concept of an incubator in education is just emerging, a schools incubator will need to rely on the decades-long experience of business incubators as a model for incubation. This report specifically utilizes interviews with business incubator directors in the Pacific Northwest and translates lessons learned from these existing organizations into recommendations for schools incubator development. The following are highlights of the report's recommendations: A schools incubator must specify the intended impact of its services and clearly outline its objectives to create that impact. A schools incubator should focus on serving schools up to their opening, unless the incubator is part of a much larger organization capable of providing on-going support to founders once their school is opened. A schools incubator should focus on providing targeted assistance to strong applicant groups in order to have the most impact in creating successful new schools. A schools incubator must establish rigorous entry requirements for incubation. A schools incubator should judge applicants based on their skill and school design without requiring the adoption of specific educational programs. A schools incubator must develop indicators of successful incubation to use as benchmarks in the process. A schools incubator should provide links to foundations and philanthropists willing to fund school start-up, as well as create a loan fund for school founders' capital finance needs. A schools incubator should cultivate relationships with districts and providers of expertise to facilitate its networking function. A schools incubator needs an incubator manager with interpersonal skills who will be able to interact effectively with school founders. The development of a schools incubator is a viable option for having an impact on education reform, as the expertise and resources to successfully support school founders exist and need only to be coordinated by a connected organization.