Bringing Disruptive Innovation to Independent Education

A new paper from the Center for American Progress and the Innosight Institute (see the executive summary here) describes higher education in the United States as being in dire need of "disruptive innovation," using language that could just as well apply to the independent school sector.  The authors, Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, Louis Caldera, and Louis Soares, define a disruptive innovation as one that transforms complicated, expensive, and inaccessible products or services into ones that are simple, affordable, and convenient, serving many no matter their wealth.   Higher education has, for decades, focused on expanding access without improving affordability; e.g., Pell grants, student loans, support from endowments, etc.  A truly disruptive innovation, to these authors, would be one that improves affordability (i.e. reduces cost) and thereby increases access to services.

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