Running Non-Profits
Like Businesses
Every week I look forward to reading interesting information in the Orange County Business Journal. I was thrilled when I ran across the article about Project Independence.
I used to manage PI’s employment program. During my six years there I witnessed many changes, but none like the recent restructure you wrote about. They were difficult changes for a social services agency making so many “business” decisions. Two years ago I took a position as a vocational counselor for California’s Department of Rehabilitation. I have come to realize those “business” decisions set PI apart from the rest.
Orange County has a multitude of nonprofit agencies that provide similar services to PI’s employment program. It is imperative that they start making better business decisions if they want to stay competitive in this industry,not to mention the ability of providing excellent services for their customers! DR funds the employment program at PI, and as a part of that funding source, it is gratifying to see a social service agency make business decisions that make sense!
Once again I’m moving on and accepting a promotion that will take me to Sacramento as a community resource development specialist. I will have the opportunity to help agencies like PI develop and add to their services. I will miss reading your journal, but am delighted that you are writing articles that address this area of business. I’m sure it will benefit companies and organizations of all kinds.
Edith “Edie” Thomas
Rehabilitation Counselor
California Department of Rehabilitation
Santa Ana
E-Learning: New
Frontier for Education
While taxpayer dollars have been successful in connecting many schools to the Internet, access to the Internet for every student is still not the norm. Many schools have connectivity but they only have two or three terminals for each classroom, or even just a single AOL account in the school library.
Even schools that have wired an entire computer lab for Internet access fall short. Tethering students to static and immovable computer stations recalls old-fashioned “language labs,” where students struggled in isolation for an hour or two a week trying to learn the complexities of a foreign language.
The key to using the Internet for education lies in interaction, not isolation. To deliver on the promise of the Internet and its role in education, schools must create a new e-classroom, in which students, teachers and parents are linked to one another as well as the vast resources of the web.
In this new, digital environment, every child and every teacher has a laptop with Internet connectivity. The ratio is simple,one student, one computer. Educators refer to this as one-to-one e-learning.
With one-to-one e-learning, teachers drive the process, steering students to pre-selected sites correlated to the school’s curriculum and individual teaching plans. Students learn to find relevant information and, more importantly, how to use it in a meaningful way.
The structure of the learning environment also changes. Students can take their laptops home, which instills in them a sense of ownership and responsibility. Additionally, parents become part of the process, accessing the Internet right along with their children by dialing in to the school’s server from home.
Initial responses to such programs have been promising. For instance, since installing a one-to-one e-learning system, with Internet connectivity, the Carmen Arace Middle School in Bloomfield, Connecticut has experienced an 80% decrease in school suspensions while simultaneously experiencing a 35% increase in students meeting state reading standards. In Hiawassee, Georgia, where the system has been implemented at Towns County Middle School, the system has reached beyond the school and into the community, where adult education classes have increased 24% over the past year with an additional 71% increase in GED completions.
With such results, it’s not surprising that the one to-one e-learning approach is gaining momentum in local and national arenas.
Technology is not a panacea for all that ails education, but it is perhaps the single best solution available to quickly and effectively bring major improvements. And our communities must ensure that government spending benefits the kind of programs that will equip our children with real education value.
Scott Redd
(Redd, a retired three star admiral, is chairman and CEO of NetSchools Corporation in Mountain View.)
Likes Our People
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy Argus. Love the rest of the Journal, too, especially Sandi Cain and Fifi.
Rod Schinnerer
General Manager
Disneyland Hotel
Anaheim
